War, Bad Blood, and Betrayal
by USAthroughout
Summary: Ben and his friends are now retired. The Plumbers now focus on peace-keeping operations and training new recruits, but when TSAB ships begins attacking one of the largest Plumber bases on Earth, war became inevitable. Who shall succeed? I heavily acknowledge that this is my first and worst story since I lack experience back then. i wouldn't suggest reading it.
1. Chapter 1

War, Blood, and Betrayal

**Note: I promised you an improved fanfic and I hope this one delivers. The main characters of Ben 10 will not be in the main part of the story, but will make cameos. This fanfic focuses more on the side characters as well as new ones I made up for the Earth's military unit, especially the new character, Clayton Calaway. There will also be new weapons and gadgets involved not within both shows, including modified Earth weapons. Movie references are present in this story, some more direct than others. It is up to the readers to find them. Enjoy.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ben 10 and Magical Lyrical Girl Nanoha. This is made for entertainment purposes only.**

3 years after the events Ultimate Alien and 1 year after the events of Strikers, Ben Tennyson and the gang have since retired to live their normal lives as well as Nanoha, Fate and many others. The Plumbers are currently made up of new recruits and have just recently promoted a new captain of the armed forces. Little did they know that a new conflict would arise in what is soon to be another interstellar war.

Back on Earth in a large base in Death Valley, California, Magister Hulka decided to introduce some new, but talented recruits, all of them human, in which they are being added as marine soldiers. The new recruits are Michael, Toby, John, Rena, Jen, and Chris. They volunteered to be part of the Plumbers after being inspired by the actions of Ben and his friends and sought to become heroes themselves.

They were soon introduced to their new captain of the marines named Clayton Calaway, a 20-year-old former Mid-Childan who abandoned his former home world after witnessing turmoil unintentionally caused by the TSAB where 20 people were killed under fire, including his parents.

"Hello captain, it's an honor to meet you." Toby breathed out while forming a salute.

"The honor is mine soldier." Clayton replied

The rest just held a salute without saying a word out of respect.

Clayton then took a stance once he has everyone's attention. "All of you listen up! Now that you are in the marines, you will all learn basic survival skills of being at war. As time goes on each challenge will become more difficult and by the end you will learn to adapt, fight, and survive. Any questions?"

Does this include weapon's training sir? John asked.

Clayton took a look at John. "Yes it does soldier. You will learn how to operate over 10 different kinds of gadgets, and weaponry during training including modes of transportation."

When no one else asked questions, Clayton dismisses them and they all began training the next day.

4 weeks into the training, Magister Korwak got a report from the Plumber Academy that over 240 unknown ships are entering Earth atmosphere and warns Clayton, who currently leads the Earth's forces. Clayton became worried, but refused to take action until they know what they are dealing with.

Meanwhile, back at the training field, the 6 new recruits are currently on break with training.

"One good thing about this training is learning how to use these weapons. I can't wait to use them when we are in battle." Toby exclaimed.

"The Plumbers currently aren't taking part in any battles though." Rena answers as she took a sip of her drink.

"True, but in case they do it is better to be safe than sorry." Chris explains to try to reassure the team that training is still important. John agreed.

Michael spots many ships passing above them.

"Think they are doing training?" Michael asked with concern.

Jen confirms Michael's suspicion. "I don't think so, I don't recognize any of them as Plumber ships. We better warn the captain."

As they attempt to contact their captain. Clayton witnessed the same ships, but later sees them shooting down Plumber ships one after another as well as many Rust Buckets. The ships responsible for destroying them are also attacking their marines with laser-type weaponry.

"Everyone retreat! We are under attack! Fall back! Fall back!" Clayton screamed while trying head back to base.

The Plumbers scrambled to the weapons depot to fight back and although many were armed, the main armory was destroyed by the ships.

The new recruits manage to arrive back to witness the surprise attack on the base.

"What's happening?" Michael screamed as he watches the enemy ships attacking.

"The base is under attack! Come on we have to help!" Chris decided to run to the airfield until stopped by Rena.

Rena attempts to persuade Chris to stop. "But what can we do? We still lack experience!" Chris, in response, convinces the team that no progress will be made until action is taken.

"If we are going to be soldiers, there is no better time to act like one!"

Unable to tolerate the attack, all of the new marines agreed with Chris and decided to fight alongside him. They all went to operate some of the untouched Plumber ships, took off, and began engaging the unknown forces. Despite their reckless actions, they were able outmaneuver and destroy 16 ships. The distraction gave some time for the other Plumbers to arm themselves.

Magister Hulka, who came to check on the Earth's forces, ordered the soldiers to grab heat-seeking weaponry and they manage to blast over 20 enemy ships before the enemy forces decide to retreat.

After the battle, about 85% of the Plumber base was destroyed, 4200 lives lost, both military and civilians, as well as most of their ships. The enemy forces on the other hand, lost over 60 ships and captured 10 POWs to be interrogated.

Clayton, being surrounded by dead bodies and followed by his marines, investigates the crashed enemy ships and recognizes the TSAB insignia on them. Reminded of the tragedy of his past, he now bears strong hatred towards the TSAB.

"They are not going to get away with this. I swear it!"

All other Plumber leaders, the United Nations, the public, and the U.S. Government were quick to condemn the attacks. They offered their condolences to the losses and approve retaliatory measures against them. Clayton in response issued a declaration of war against the TSAB by taking the battle to Mid-Childa, where the TSAB is based from, while the other Plumber leaders take care of their other TSAB-administrated worlds.

As the marines help transport the injured to the medical facility, part of which was damaged by the attack, Clayton confronts the the ones responsible taking the Plumber ships to take part in battle.

"All of you were suppose to stay in the training field. Instead you disobeyed the order and took several of our ships to battle and put yourselves in harm's way." Clayton, however, didn't seem angry as he talks to his recruits.

"I'm sorry sir, all of it was my fault, I just couldn't stand to watch as the base was being attacked. I had to do something and eventually so did everyone else." Chris explains as everyone nods in agreement.

Clayton assures Chris that his actions were necessary, but shows concern that such actions might lead to a disadvantage for future battles. "Your actions did save many lives, but you shouldn't take part in battle unless you are ordered to do so, alright? Still, good job to all of you."

Everyone remains silent, still affected by the tragedies of the attack as well as Clayton, but continues to speak to assure morality.

"Come on everyone, we can still save lives of these soldiers so lets continue doing our job."

Everyone obeyed and continue moving the dead and injured to different areas of the facility. 40 people died from their injuries the next day, adding up to the death toll.

After treating everyone, Plumber code breakers are hired to investigate possible motives for the attack while Plumber leaders assemble their forces in preparation for the battle in Mid-Childa.

Clayton, impressed with the actions of the recently graduated marines, enlisted them to be a part of his infantry, much to their excitement.

Meanwhile, back in Mid-Childa, Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio are at home resting after training their new recruit, a young woman name Leanna Nakamura, in Long Arch of Central Mid-Childa, unaware of the recent actions of the TSAB and that Mid-Childa will soon take part in the biggest and most bloody battle ever in their history.

"So Vivio, how was school?" Nanoha asked.

"Great Nanoha mama! Me and my team won today's mock battle." Vivio replies with excitement.

That's great Vivio. Listen, Nanoha has to work a little late tomorrow so I will be the one watching you tomorrow night, okay? Fate asked with a smile while holding Vivio.

"Okay!"

**The battle will be inspired by several war movies that I have watched in the past. I hope you enjoyed this chapter; cause more will come up in the future.**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**I know that I made mistakes on the first chapter, but I will show more character development with some of the newer ones and hopefully the events will be more descriptive.**

Michael and Rena were seen as young childhood friends many years back in their hometown of New York City, New York, playing in the yard, running around using their blanket as capes.

They spent a lot of time reading Superman comics at home, wondering what life is like as a superhero. Rena spends time at Michael's house since her parents are always absent due to work. One day, Michael's parents decided to join the kids in watching Superman cartoons on TV.

Michael's mother saw her both Rena and her son's admiration for Superman. "Do you both want to become heroes when you grow up?"

"Yes, I do!" Michael replied almost immediately with excitement.

"I want to become a hero so I can protect everyone I care about." Rena jumps to the couch and then to the floor attempting to fly.

"Superman isn't real, but a hero is. If you promised to work hard and care about others more than yourself then this dream can be achieved by the two of you. No matter what you both want to grow up to be, just remember I will always be proud." Michael's father grabbed the two children and placed them on his lap as they watch the cartoon.

Later, when Michael and Rena were playing in the yard, Rena grabbed Michael's shoulder. "Michael, do you really want to become a hero?"

"More than anything else." He raises his arms out of excitement, showing Rena that he is serious.

"Then let's make a promise that we will become heroes when we grow up." Rena sticks out her pinky.

Michael happily accepts her pinky promise. "Let's both try our hardest and maybe we can become like Superman." They both nodded and continue playing.

As years go by, Michael and Rena realizes who the heroes of the real world are and volunteered in police stations and fire stations in hopes to become one of them.

One day, the Forever Knights began raiding their neighborhood for possible alien tech. They spotted Michael and Rena making a run and began to chase them.

When the Forever Knights almost catch them within an inch of their palms, Humungousaur shows up in front of them and drove the Forever Knights away from the neighborhood. Michael and Rena witness the giant humanoid dinosaur transform back to Ben Tennyson.

"You two alright?" Ben turns to Michael and Rena.

"Yes, thank you for saving us." Rena gave a big smile to Ben, earning slight jealousy from Michael. "It's what the Plumbers do, we risk our lives to fight and protect the innocent." He then flies off as Jetray into the night sky.

With Michael and Rena's admiration changing towards to Ben, they both vow to become Plumbers themselves, no matter what role they get.

Back in the present day, four days after the attack, Plumber scientists work feverishly in a base located somewhere in the Ocala National Forest in Florida to create a new weapon to counteract TSAB defenses. Since TSAB often protect themselves using energy fields, using Clayton's knowledge as a former Mid-Childan, they create a new weapon they called Field Seekers, probes that degenerates defense fields upon contact.

The code breakers were able to gather information from the prisoners and details were revealed to the Plumber superiors, and eventually to the marines.

It was revealed that the TSAB are currently in a secret underground mission to expand their organization to Earth by monopolizing the planet to have it administrated and that the Plumbers on Earth were an obstacle in their way and wants them disbanded or out of the way, which led to the attack in Death Valley, California. The perpetrator and reasons remain unknown as the prisoners were doing nothing more than following orders, believing that it is for the sake of the TSAB.

Although they have plenty of armor, ammo, guns, and ships, the Plumbers face a shortage of armored fighting vehicles and requested most of the Western powers for them. Most accepted that request and within a day, many combat vehicles, weapons, and several different types of tanks were delivered.

While Michael, Rena, John, Chris and many other soldiers monitor the deliveries, Toby and Jen approached Clayton with astonishment.

"Dude, are we actually going to use all of this in battle? If we are, Awesome!"

"Yes private, all of this will be used in battle." Clayton continues drawing plans on the map of Mid-Childa as Jen walks closer towards him.

"Do you think we really need all of this? We might mistakenly do more damage to the planet than necessary."

"Doesn't hurt to have back up when you need them. Knowing the enemy's high use of magic, we are going to need all the help that we can get."

With permission from NASA, all the Plumber battleships were set on launching pads located in multiple fields of the Kennedy Space Center as well as the other Plumber bases.

Plumbers from other parts of Earth soon join the main forces in Florida to help with the preparations. The Plumber forces taking part in battle now number up to 6 million scattered in multiple bases where the ships are scheduled to launch.

After all the preparations were made, Clayton calls for a meeting at one of the launching sites where about 5,000 Plumbers attended, with others listening through broadcasts. Clayton then makes his way to the podium.

"Good afternoon everyone, in less than a day, we are going to take part in what could possibly be the most dangerous battle in Plumber history. The attack by the TSAB that brought all of us here is a tragedy for everyone, but if the attack was meant to split us apart as a group, they have failed. Instead we are brought closer to honor our history for a common cause. Though others and me will lead, we cannot guarantee survival to all of you, but we have to remember why we are here and what we are fighting for. They said that they will be taking Earth, but they didn't realize that after the attack all of us have spoken in one voice saying that we will not back down and Earth will never be forsaken. No doubt that we will be fighting a tough and determined enemy, but with all of us fighting together for the same reason, Earth shall survive and we shall succeed, because Earth is our home!"

Clayton's brief speech was met with a loud and standing ovation with soldiers rushing through their own personal preparations for battle.

The next day, more than 400,000 ships, both militant and supply ships, are set in launching positions.

Large crowds surrounds almost all the fields to watch the scheduled launch with many others watching from their homes.

Magister Korwak, Magister Hulka, and several other Plumber superiors approach Clayton before he enters his ship.

"Clayton, all of our soldiers here shall be entrusted under your command, but if you ever need help we will be more than happy to offer assistance." Magister Korwak offers to shake hands, which Clayton accepts.

Azmuth suddenly appears on the stairway of Clayton's ship, receiving the news of the upcoming war.

"Sorry to interrupt your near departure, but I must warn you captain that I know of the grudge you have against the TSAB. As important as this battle is don't let your emotions get the best of you or otherwise one mistake can turn the tide of the whole war against us."

"Don't worry Azmuth. Right now all that matters to me is to lead this men, because it is my responsibility to keep as many of them alive. Every person counts in this battle and I will gladly risk my life to protect them."

Clayton passes Azmuth as he moves to the ship.

"You also have to remember that you lead these soldiers so don't unnecessarily put yourself at risk." Azmuth then teleports back to Galvan Prime as the ship's door closes.

The ships begin to launch as the crowds loudly cheer and pray for them to come back victorious.

As soon as they leave the Earth's atmosphere, they were joined by over 2 million other Plumber ships from other galaxies before they disburse to go to their targeted planets, with Earth aiming straight for Mid-Childa.

"Are you guys ready, because once we reach Mid-Childa, there is no turning back." Clayton warned his new marines, knowing that this is the first time taking part in a real conflict.

Toby prepares his laser machine gun. "Bring it on!"

"They attack us, we attack back." Chris becomes excited as John becomes worried.

Jen, Michael, and Rena went to the 1st and 2nd lieutenants of each team to prepare battle strategies once they land.

Within a few hours thanks to the ships traveling in hyper space, they finally reach the destination to disburse. Mid-Childa was spotted within half an hour. With the Earth's Plumber forces finally closing in on the planet. The battle has finally begun.

**I know that some of you would have probably thought that the battle would begin in this chapter, but I needed to make sure it all fits. See you in the next chapter.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

As the Plumber ships approach Mid-Childa, Clayton decides to focus their campaign on surrounding and slowly weakening the TSAB defenses rather than attacking Central Mid-Childa directly, knowing that the strongest defenses are located there.

He then attends a meeting with the assigned leaders of each team to discuss battle strategies for the first attack.

"Our job in the war also wants us to guarantee the survival of as many forces as possible, so it is best to work on a surprise attack in a similar fashion to the way they hit us. A full frontal assault would only lead to more casualties no matter how big our numbers are so we have to start off nice and slow."

Everyone nodded in agreement as Clayton discusses the plan.

"We will have to start by sending spy teams to every TSAB military bases and have them disable the control rooms. This will prevent them from calling reinforcements once our infantry lands to get into position."

"But captain, sending one spy team to each of the enemy bases is a very risky strategy, if they were caught, it would alarm everyone."

"I know lieutenant Carson, that is why we are taking every step to prevent capture. The speed ships that our going to be used for this operation as well as the spy uniforms have radar-jamming technology and cloaking devices to prevent detection. Once each team takes out the guards in the control rooms, they will be ordered to activate the EMP, which would disable all of their electric-powered defenses and communications to our advantage."

One of the 2nd lieutenants stands up and raises his hand for permission to speak. "With all due respect captain, even if our teams were to successfully take out the control rooms, the EMP would also knock our defenses as well, exposing our teams to the enemy, not to mention that they can also defend themselves with magic, which would lead to our disadvantage."

"Which is why each team would be under our orders when they are ready to activate the EMP. Once each team takes the control rooms, they would signal that the infiltration was a success, which is when we give the order. For those who failed the infiltration, they have teleportation technology that would bring them back to the ships they left from. After the EMP is activated, the ships will enter the planet's atmosphere to their assigned destinations." The 2nd lieutenant sits down after hearing Clayton's explanation.

"Our first destinations will also be made as our main bases after the first battle. Any concerns and questions that needed to be pointed out?"

Unable to come up with other battle plan themselves, they all shook their heads no and decided to cooperate with the plan for the first attack.

Many speed ships were sent from the supply ships and enter the atmosphere of Mid-Childa, targeting the Eastern, Southern, Western, and Northern regions of the continent, which would surround the Central region where the TSAB Mid-Childan Main Office is located once the main forces have land.

With the entire Plumber ships keeping their distance, all they can do is wait for the signal.

Using their experience, technology and devices given to them all teams manage to make their way into all enemy bases and it didn't take too long to reach the control rooms where they briefly took out the guards. Within 2 hours, the ships picked up the signals coming from all teams, indicating that all teams were successful taking over the control rooms.

Clayton went to his ship's COM link to communicate to all the teams. "All right, now before you activate the EMP, remember that you have to remain hidden until the marines arrive. Change into the enemies' uniforms if you have to and signal green smoke toward us so we know that you are not the enemies if you do. You understand?" All of the teams responded that they got the message.

"All right, activate the EMP."

Within a second, all communication links and defenses in all of the targeted bases were knocked down. As the TSAB forces try to get them re-activated, thousands of ships soon surround the bases, preventing escape.

Clayton's team decides to land on Coastal Airport 8, an old airport in Northern Mid-Childa closed down by a large fire that occurred as a result of a mission given to the Numbers and where Nanoha rescued Subaru Nakajima.

The ships begin to bombard the area with laser gatling guns sending them on the run, but the ships manage to surround them before they get too far.

Plumber infantry coming out of the ships numbering up to 40,000 came out of the ships, heavily armored and armed with Mark 12 Techadorian Multiblasters, and immediately begin attacking the guards. One of the guards in the watchtower attempts to contact reinforcements, but the EMP disabled their communications.

Toby grabbed a plasma cannon and shoots at the watchtower, killing them instantly. The guards' tries to fight back, but are heavily outnumbered and most of their weapons have been disabled.

With many killed, surrounded, and outnumbered the surviving guards have no choice but to accept their loss and surrender.

Many were sent to POW camps in various planets where the Plumbers are administrated.

Clayton got out of the ship and announces that this old airport will be their main base for the duration of the war. Within a few hours, many MLRS and Plumber ships surrounded the airport to protect the base as it is being built with the number of marines inside increasing to over 60,000.

After the attack, the Plumber spy team from the control room finally reunites with Clayton's main forces popping green smoke as they were in enemy uniform.

The corps only suffered very minor casualties, while half of the guards in the area were killed as the result of the battle.

Clayton then receives a call from one of the corps in Western Mid-Childa that the Battalion 108 HQ has been captured after a hard fought battle. During the battle, mortar fire completely scattered the battalion. The mages inside attempted to protect themselves by activating their defense fields, but the Plumbers counter their defenses when Chris shoots a Field Seeker probe from his sniper and others eventually did the same, which causes the fields to break apart, leaving the remaining TSAB forces defenseless. Genya and Ginga Nakajima are among some of the surviving POWs in the HQ being taken to a Plumber base for interrogation and transport to a POW camp.

He then decides that their next target would be the Fourth Ground Forces Academy, where several elite forces reside, and leads his brigade of 8,000 soldiers towards the area and calls for several M109 howitzers and Plasma Beam Tanks to follow.

Not wanting to harm the students in the academy, Clayton withdraws air support from the mission, fearing that an attack from them will kill more than just the enemy forces, and plans to transport the students to refugee camps near the base if any were caught.

Toby, Rena, and Michael are among a few of Clayton's followers in this mission.

Rena confronts Toby out of concern. "Toby, remember that Clayton doesn't want us to kill the trainees in the academy so don't get too reckless."

"Don't worry Rena, all the fun will be on the outside. I will be in the group where we wait for the enemy forces to come out and then we blast them!"

"Have you watched a lot of action movies or have been exposed to a lot of violence when you were young?" Clayton jokingly asked.

"Yep, my favorite movie is Saving Private Ryan, but my favorite hero is Ben Tennyson since he and his friends actually saved the whole planet. When I was young, I used to play a lot with my friends using toy guns such as laser tag. Ben is the one who gave me a dream to be a Plumber after watching him in action using all these different aliens, even though Will Harangue tried to denounce him as a threat in the news."

"Toby, try to realize that not everything that you like can be applied to real life. If you are already part of the Plumbers, you would know that violence is not always the answer and remember that I am your superior officer so don't get out of line. The mission for this whole war is not to kill off the TSAB, but to make them accept our terms and to never bother our home again."

"Understood captain."

"I also want you to remember the value of human life, so don't go killing as much as you please, even if our targets are our enemies. We are soldiers not murderers so only kill if you need to, got it?"

"Got it." Toby, confused and saddened by this advice, decides to remain silent trying to gather his thoughts.

Back in Long Arch of Central Mid-Childa, Subaru attempts to contact Ginga to check on her work progress, but received no signal.

Subaru becomes worried and later bumps into Nanoha and Leanna.

"Nanoha, I am currently trying to contact Ginga, but so far I have received no response."

"Don't worry Subaru, that sometimes happens whenever people are too busy. I am sure Ginga got her hands full right now so it is best not to disturb her."

"I guess you are right." After Nanoha reassures Subaru, the girls walk away and join the rest of Riot Force 6 for training, but are being watched by a mysterious figure at the end of the hallway opposite of their direction.

**If you want to know what a few of these weapons are, go to wikipedia or the wiki of both shows.**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As Clayton's team approach the academy, several former members of the Numbers, Cinque, Sein, Nove, and Wendi were in the school as special guests to the students until the power outage occurred as the result of the EMP.

As they and several mechanics try to figure out the situation. The trainees were told to stay at their dorms, not knowing that this was what the brigade wanted.

"This isn't like any other black outs isn't it." Cinque becomes worried.

Nove assures Cinque that she is not alone in her suspicions. "All communications and electronics are down. I am wondering what could have done all this."

As Clayton positions his brigade to surround the academy, the M109 howitzers and Plasma Beam Tanks are placed in certain distances from both the main and back gates preparing for the ambush.

"Everybody ready?" Clayton prepares to give the order.

Toby, Rena, and Michael nodded.

A few TSAB officers decide to go outdoors to investigate, not knowing that the area has been pre-sighted with mortar fire.

A few small items was thrown in front of the officers as soon as they step out. As soon as one of the officers picked up one of the small items, huge flashes of lights and loud sound explode from these small items, disorienting the officers.

"Fire!" The M109 howitzers launch their missiles and begin bombarding the area as well as the academy, alerting everyone.

Before the rest of the officers were able to react, a Plumber battalion, numbering up to 600, including Michael and Rena, broke into the academy, catching and pinning many of the officers in the building.

"Surrender and you will remain unharmed!" Michael screamed to all of the officers.

The former Numbers were able to get out of the academy before they themselves were bombarded or captured.

"Who are they and why are they attacking us?" Sein yells as she charges to enemy position.

"I don't know, but whoever they are, they are not friendly." Wendi activates her Inherent Skill, Aerial Wave, using her speed to take out several of the charging Plumber soldiers.

Cinque activates her Inherent Skill, Rumble Detonator, and uses her spell, Overdetonation. Many explosive Stingers arise into the air and begins bombarding the Plumber forces.

She was able to kill some of the soldiers and M109 howitzers, but the Plasma Beam Tanks suffered no damage, much to her shock.

The tanks are actually made up of neutronium carbon alloy, a highly durable material used by the Highbreed during the war with Earth, making basic and moderate attack spells useless against it. The material was given to the Plumbers after an alliance was formed between them and the Highbreed.

One of the tanks fired at Cinque, in which she responded by activating her defense field.

A Plumber sniper fills his CheyTac M200 Intervention with a Field Seeker probe and fired at Cinque, destroying her defense field.

Vulnerable and outnumbered, Cinque orders a retreat, but it was too late Wendi. Wendi attempted to outmaneuver the Plumber soldiers using Aerial Wave, but Toby, knowing which direction she is heading towards, throws a silent flash bang at her, causing her to lose her balance and deactivates her skill. Toby successfully pins her from behind while Wendi is still disoriented.

"Let me go! Let me go!" Wendi started crying as she continues to beg and scream.

Michael, Rena, and several officers were able get to the main office of the academy and captured the chairmen before he could make his escape.

Sein, tiring out from overusing her energy in the battle, uses her Inherent Skill, Deep Diver, to retreat underground before the academy was taken over.

Nove, hearing the retreat order from Cinque, activates Break Liner and dispatches several of the Plumber soldiers to make her getaway.

At the end of the battle, the Plumbers were victorious in occupying the Fourth Ground Forces Academy with moderate casualties. The mortar fired areas were filled with blood with several limbs and dead bodies found along with it as Clayton and his brigade walks towards the main entrance.

The former Numbers now wander off to Central Mid-Childa, distraught at their possible loss of Wendi.

"Why, why would they do this?" Nove starts crying as she travels.

Cinque, with an upset face, attempts to ignore Nove's crying.

"The power outage was all a part of their plan for their attack. We don't know what they are up to or why they are attacking, but all we can do now to survive is to keep moving." Sein became angered at the truth she just spoke out.

"We don't know what they will do to Wendi, but right now its too late. To prevent this from happening we have to warn HQ and with all of our communications down, we can only hope to get there before they do." Cinque charges ahead with Sein and Nove following.

The Plumbers later found out that some of the officers escaped and allows the students to escape from their dorms before the Plumbers took over.

"I don't get it." Toby took some of the weapons of the TSAB forces. "If the EMP was able to knock down everything running on electricity, how were they able to still use these?"

Clayton corrected Toby. "That's because these weapons do not run on electricity, they run on magic, did you forget that?"

"Oh, never mind then."

"So what is next captain?" Rena asked, but before Clayton can answer, a distress was made from Lieutenant Carson and his team on Clayton's Plumber badge with the signal coming from the Erusea District of Western-Mid-Childa.

"What's next is that we have allies to rescue. Come on everyone let's regroup at the Erusea District."

"Erusea District? But that is all the way in Western Mid-Childa!" Rena and Clayton calms Michael down.

"Don't worry Michael, we aren't traveling on foot if that's what you're asking. You are freaking crazy if you think we are stupid enough to do that." Clayton jokes as everyone starts laughing at Michael.

Clayton then contacts the main base and calls for many Plumber ships to allow his brigade to travel more efficiently to Western Mid-Childa, while leaving 2,500 of his forces to occupy the academy.

* * *

><p>Many hours back, the scene switches to what was formerly the Battalion 108 HQ in Western Mid-Childa. Lieutenant Carson, Chris, John, and Jen are discussing about meeting up with one of the platoons Carson send out to Erusea District to have the area occupied.<p>

The squad soon head out to the area with several other marines following with Chris being the Squad Leader after being promoted for leading the attack against the TSAB back in Death Valley, but still under the command of Lieutenant Carson, much to his dismay.

They soon run into a TSAB convey from Central Mid-Childa, since it is the only area that the EMP did not affect, and hides into the tall grass of the area to avoid it.

Lieutenant Carson whispers to John about timing his attack as he carries a plasma cannon.

"Listen private, we want to let the convey pass, but if they come out you know what to do."

"Got it." John goes into position.

As they feared, a few of the TSAB infantry steps out of the vehicle to investigate. Before they can explore, Michael suddenly stood up and fires the cannon, destroying the convey and some of the enemy forces while the rest of squad fires at the rest of them.

"Good job John." Chris holds out a salute.

"No problem sir." John salutes back.

"Since when did you start calling me sir?" Chris asked in confusion.

"Since I found out you were promoted to be the Squad Leader." Jon and Jen laughed.

"All right, all right, we all have our fun, but we better leave this area right now in case more enemies show up." Carson went on ahead with others following.

As they reach the entrance, there is a small security base guarding it, despite the fact that the platoon they were trying to reach had already passed the area.

"Listen up Chris, me and the rest of the squad will provide covering fire while you hide in the tree line. Once the fighting begins you snipe, got it?

"Yes, lieutenant." Chris went to the tree line as the squad charges against the security.

Heavy fighting was insured as explosions soon covered the field between the squad and the enemy forces. As soon as the fighting is called off, Chris was ordered to rejoin the squad.

They were able to eliminate most of the enemy forces, but one of the soldiers was dying in the process. The squad attempts to revive him, but he eventually succumbs to his wounds.

Jen sees that there was one enemy soldier moving to lift himself up.

"Hey, we got a live one here!" The squad soon surrounds the lone soldier, confiscating his weaponry and forces him to bury the dead soldier.

The squad prepares to shoot him, but John decides to have him spared after seeing that he was only a watchdog during the battle.

The squad sends two of their marines to escort their prisoner back to base before continuing on.

They soon manage to reunite with the platoon in their outskirts and learns from them that a regiment force of over 2,400 TSAB ground forces were on their way after receiving information on the previous attack of the city that the platoon committed and were ordered to defend their positions despite being heavily outnumbered.

The Plumber forces in the area, only numbering up to 170 decides to set numerous explosive traps and minigun positions while the rest of the forces are in elevated sniping positions or hiding in the lower levels for ambush.

TSAB forces were soon scene coming to the passageways intended for them. Once they were close enough, the explosives set off around the area sending some flying in the air.

The TSAB forces activates their Devices and charges the area for a visual of enemy forces, but many were cut down by minigun fire, while those who did pass this position were later met with sniper fire and gunfire from the hidden troopers.

Although they were able to hold their own for some time, the TSAB forces soon came from other areas surrounding the Plumbers and are slowly overwhelming the troops in the minigun positions while the rest of the marines and snipers slowly fall back.

Lieutenant Carson had everyone retreat further into the outskirts into the city to prevent being surrounded, but the TSAB forces soon follow.

Some of the snipers hidden in taller buildings were killed by long range attacks from the TSAB while those hidden in higher positions outdoors were lucky enough to escape.

Realizing that the platoon is being overwhelmed and that they were going to lose the battle if this continues without reinforcements, lieutenant Carson makes a distress call the base.

"All passages have been blocked, we need back up!"

The base responds to the needed call. "Carson, what is your position of the platoon?"

"Broken Arrow, I repeat Broken Arrow!"

"Broken Arrow confirmed. We just contacted Clayton's brigade and air force is coming your detected location, but you are going to need to hold for at least 10 minutes, can you do that?" This was the same distress call that Clayton received after the battle in the Fourth Ground Forces Academy.

"Affirmative." Carson, knowing that the platoon needs to get into shelter to last, decides to commit one final act.

As the lieutenant orders the marines to head to the foxholes built prior to the battle, he grabbed John's plasma cannon and shoots at all enemy sides.

"What are you doing lieutenant?" John screamed.

"Buying you some time. Its been an honor working with all of you, but my time is up." Carson charges to the enemies' direction as he continues shooting.

John watches Carson in distress as he retreats into one of the foxholes knowing that words can no longer reach him.

As Carson goes further in, he was finally cut off by a shot from the TSAB, but continues shooting until a second shot finally kills him.

With the lieutenant gone, Chris takes over the platoon and declares a last stand in the foxholes.

"If we are going to die, then we will die fighting."

Jen, who is in the same foxhole with Chris, gets into firing position and everyone soon begins shooting as soon as the TSAB forces were on sight.

Before the TSAB forces were able to get to the foxholes, they were soon met with heavy bombardment coming from the X-47B combat drones and Plumber ships as they fire their rotary cannons in the enemies' direction.

They attack completely scattered the TSAB regiment as they try to get away. Clayton's infantry makes it to the area to rescue the surviving platoon and capture any of the surviving TSAB forces.

The platoon came out of the foxholes recognizing their allies with Chris heading towards Clayton.

"Where is lieutenant Carson?" Clayton asked as he continues firing.

"He is dead captain, he was trying to buy the platoon some time to get here, but was killed in the process."

"The loss of a great soldier will not go unavenged. Some of the officers were able to escape our battle and plans to warn the TSAB HQ in Central Mid-Childa about us."

"So the cat is out of the bag, huh?"

"I am afraid so Chris. Our next battle will probably a war of the worlds and we will have to go all out if it comes to it, but the EMP bought us some time so by the time that happens, we will be ready." Clayton and the rest of the group looks on, knowing what might come next.

Only 32 of the 170 marines in the platoon survived the battle.

* * *

><p>The next scene goes to the TSAB HQ where Nanoha, Fate, and Vivio are sitting in the same table with Leanna having dinner in the cafeteria with the rest of the members of Riot Force 6.<p>

With Vivio having already finished her dinner, she begins to play with Leanna as Nanoha and Fate smiling as they watch.

"It's good that Vivio is making new friends, but she should know that Leanna still has a lot of training to do."

"Come on Nanoha let Vivio have her fun. I am sure that Leanna likes it just as much." Fate protested.

Subaru sits with Teana with a worried look on her face with Erio and Caro showing concern.

"What's wrong Subaru?" Erio asked.

"I have been trying to reach Ginga and Genya since yesterday, but there was no response. I wonder if something might have happened to them."

Caro intervenes. "Don't worry Subaru, this happened already before, I am sure that they are very busy today, but by the time they are finished, I am sure they will call."

Just as Subaru begins to feel better, an exhausted Cinque, Nove, and Sein reached the cafeteria.

"The TSAB is under attack and Wendi has been captured!" Cinque shouted.

Everybody became appalled hearing this with Subaru fearing the worst.

Back in the already war torn Erusea District, a surviving, but heavily injured TSAB marine attempts to crawl to his weapon when the same mysterious figure stood in front of him.

"Who are you?" The marine attempts to use him as leverage, but the figure got out what appears to be a Glock 17, shoots the marine, killing him.

As the shadows fade, the figure is soon revealed to be Jail Scaglietti, smiling sinisterly as he stood over the fallen marine.


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

With Riot Force 6 reunited again, they attempted to contact other TSAB-administrated planets only to find out that they are already at war with the other Plumbers and as a result, they are unable to send needed back up. With the EMP disabling most of the TSAB military bases, they are unable to make contact.

Using a few satellites launched from their region of Mid-Childa, they were able to detect how much the war has escalated since it began, but were soon caught by a few Plumber ships remaining in space and were shot down.

Hayate reports to the Riot Force 6 in Long Arch. "By the time the HQ was alerted us about the war we are about to take part in, the enemy forces have already taken more than half of Mid-Childa in order to surround us. They are known as the Plumbers, intergalactic law enforcement agencies similar to us. As Cinque reported, Wendi has been captured as well as many others by them. Nove, Sein, and Cinque are still injured from their previous battle with them so they won't be able to join us in battle."

Signum speaks out before Hayate can go any further. "If there purposes are similar to our own, why is this war happening between us?"

Before Hayate could answer, Subaru immediately stands up. "What about Ginga and Genya? Did you find out if they are alright?"

"Subaru, I am afraid that both have been captured during the war in an ambush of the Battalion 108 HQ, but they are still alive in a POW camp according to one of the files that we were able to receive from the enemy."

Subaru becomes traumatized of the event, worrying what is happening to them right now, but Leanna reaches her hand to Subaru's shoulders.

"Don't worry Subaru, once we head to battle, we will get them back."

"I agree, its not like we haven't been in situations like this before, we will find a way." Nanoha intervenes.

"When we do, I will make sure they will pay for what they've done." Subaru angrily said as she sat down.

"I am afraid that is easier said than down. The Plumbers have already taken most of Mid-Childa, we are heavily outnumbered." Hayate turns her back.

Realizing that Signum was being ignored due to Subaru's interference, Fate gets into position to speak. "Hayate, do you know what their purpose is for this war? What exactly do they want?"

"Right now our enemies are fairly new, so their motivations for this invasion remains unknown, but it won't be for long. We will commence the attack within a couple days, the Plumbers shouldn't be able to reach us within this time." Hayate then dismisses the Riot Force 6 from the meeting in order to prepare for battle.

Back in the Plumber base in the Coastal Airport, Clayton is seen shaking in his bed. In his dream, he is taken back to the tragedy of the turmoil that killed his parents in Cranagan, the capital city of Mid-Childa.

In the other side of the raging flames, Clayton sees a small figure who looks like an average teenage girl.

"Who are you?" Clayton screamed at the girl.

The girl soon turns around and gave him a sadistic laugh before his body is engulfed with flames.

Clayton frantically wakes up breathing heavily in his tent. He looks at his clock and realizes it is only 3:00 AM. Unable to sleep, Clayton gets out of his bed, grabbed his jacket, and leaves his tent to find a bench to sit to look up at the night sky.

Michael and Rena saw Clayton seating outside and decides to join him, knowing that nobody is suppose to wake up until 5:30 AM to discuss a full-range invasion plan of Central Mid-Childa.

"Couldn't sleep either captain?"

"No Michael. I just woke up from a nightmare about my childhood."

"Its about the turmoil you witnessed when you used to live here isn't it?" Rena asked.

"Its something that I am still trying to let go of. Once this war is over, I am heading straight back to Earth to get away from this nightmare."

Michael reaches Clayton's shoulders. "Until then, you have the entire army to support you. We'll get through this and then go home."

"Thank you." As Clayton relaxes, he heads back to his tent to get some more rest for the battle, leaving Michael and Rena alone together.

"Hey Michael, do you still remember our promise when we were kids?"

"I would never forget that promise. That was the reason why we are here isn't it?"

"That's right. We will never rest until we reach our goals."

"And let nothing get in our way." Michael intervenes.

Both of them soon find themselves laughing at each other before Michael stands up to head back to his tent, but unknown to them, Toby has been listening to the whole conversation, leaving him deep in thought.

"We are going to be very busy once morning hits so we better get as much rest as we can until then."

"All right, let's both give it our best in the morning." Both of them nodded to each other as they leave to rest.

As morning hits, Clayton has a meeting with the other superiors about today's battle strategy.

"With the TSAB HQ now aware of our presence, we are going to have to speed up our process. With us surrounding Central Mid-Childa, we will have to send an army region towards the city of Cranagan, which is the capital city, before we can take on the higher officials of Long Arch. We will send an army division for that job with Chris leading them."

One of the officers raised his hands out of objection. "But sir, sending out that big of a division to the capital would get them expose to the Capital Defense Corps. This sub-division of the enemy forces are considered to have some of the strongest defenses of the entire enemy stronghold, it will be suicide to do a full frontal assault against them in the capital."

A holographic projection of a tower later appears in the center of the table the officers are sitting at.

"The city itself isn't our target. Our real target is the TSAB Mid-Childan Main Office, as you can see in our holographic image, the main office is located in this tower, protected by a number of other skyscrapers, magical shields, and physical barriers. In order to destroy such a defense numbers will be important, because we will need them to protect the grenadiers, who are in charge of destroying the ground defenses, while the air force takes care of the magical barriers on the tower." One of the officers spoke up in support of the plan.

"Besides, we will need some of them to distract the elite forces anyway. This is a war, there are always risks in everything we do. The best we can do right now is to end it as quickly as possible." Clayton turns off the table projection and walks away.

"Attacking from inside the city alone will not be enough, we will attack from all sides to further increase our chances of success." Clayton spoke as he loads his gun.

Within an hour, forces from all the main bases, numbering up to 2 million, have surrounded the borders, attacking the patrolling guards while waiting for air force to arrive, which would be the signal to commence the attack.

What they didn't know are the plans of the TSAB Ground Forces. Each member of the Riot Force 6, backed up with an army of their own, are in the Plumbers' targeted areas waiting for them to make their move.

All the civilians had apparently been warned of the attack as none were spotted in the city.

Clayton, commanding a unit of over 60,000 strong, begins their search in Cranagan. As he takes a closer look at the city, he soon finds Fate, Nanoha, Leanna, and other TSAB forces patrolling the city as well.

"Those girls are the captains of the Forward, the armies of the front-line. What are they doing here?" Rena asked with fear and concern.

Clayton attempts to contact base. "Hello, is anybody there?"

Back at the base, one of the officers from the meeting responds to the call. "Hello captain, what is your situation?"

"Officer our intel is off, it appears that most, if not all, of the fighters from Long Arch are currently patrolling Cranagan."

"Then you are going to have to call of the division from Long Arch to join back with the region."

"Understood." Clayton hangs up and attempts to contact the division.

"Listen up, most of the officers have left Long Arch to Cranagan or other parts of Central Mid-Childa, I want you to head back to the main forces.

Before Chris could respond, one of the Plumber ships is seen shot down by one of Caro's dragons.

The army region then makes a full charge towards the city in response against Clayton's orders. Subaru and Teana's team attempts to hold their own in the north side, while Signum and Vita's team guard the tower.

Just before Chris, Jen, and the rest of his army division could move from Long Arch, they soon found themselves ambushed by Hayate's own forces, with Erio and Caro being among them.

The air force tries to head directly towards the towers, but were intercepted by Nanoha, Fate, and Leanna.

The air force decides to focus their attack on the mages to get them out of the way and although they were successful in splitting them up. Their attacks have no effect on the magical shields.

Several ships were seen chasing Nanoha and while they were reloading Field Seeker probes into the rotary cannons, Nanoha suddenly turns around and aims Raising Heart at them.

"DIVINE BUSTER!" As a huge burst of energy shoots out from Nanoha's staff, the ships were gone in an instant, but soon more were coming, which forces Nanoha to make another retreat.

Leanna takes part in battle by knocking down many Plumber ships using what appears to be a plasma gun with a shape similar to that of Teana's.

With the TSAB forces handling Plumber infantry, Fate sees multiple Plasma Beam Tanks heading towards her. Fate transforms to her Sonic Drive form and activates Riot Zanber. Using her speed, Fate was able to avoid enemy fire, cutting down enemy forces, and was able to penetrate the tanks and destroy them.

As Nanoha finds herself surrounded by enemy forces, she decides to activate a bombardment spell.

"I don't want to do this, but you left me no choice. Break Shoot!"

Almost immediately, Nanoha activates Exelion Buster and multiple blasts of energy came out and hits the surrounding areas with tremendous force, destroying many of the armored vehicles and sending many of the Plumber infantry into a retreat.

Toby and Clayton were able to avoid Nanoha's attack and got themselves in opposite sides facing Nanoha.

"This is for all the lives that your people killed!" Clayton screamed as he and Toby fired their Plasma Cannons at the same time directly at Nanoha.

The blasts caused a huge explosion, but Nanoha manages to save herself just in time by activating her defense barrier and retreats after realizing her shield is weakening.

Subaru and Teana are also facing trouble of their own, being heavily outnumbered and losing many of their forces.

As Teana attempts to outmaneuver the air force, a guidance missile suddenly appears in front of her and knocks her out of the sky. Subaru, angered by what she saw, begins to scream. Gathering as much energy as she could, Subaru prepares to aim towards the Plumber infantry.

"First you took my father and sister, and now you attack my friend. I will not let you get away with this! Divine Buster!

The attack completely knocked off most of the Plumber infantry, as even the tanks and other armored vehicle weapons were completely destroyed.

The surviving Plumber infantry decides to retreat as Subaru chases them. "Give them back! Give my father and sister back!

Before Subaru could go any further, one of the surviving marines shoots a silent flash bang, disorienting Subaru as they make their escape.

Hayate, Erio, and Caro realizes that the current situation of the battle is not in their favor, but continues to fight on. As Erio engages several Plumber ships heading his way, a sniper, hiding in the trees, shoots a Field Seeker probe knocking Erio unconscious into the ocean.

Caro witnessed the event in disbelief and cries out as she summons her guardian dragon, Voltaire. His large size however, did not intimidate the Plumbers as they continue firing.

Voltaire in response, begins bombarding both the Plumber infantry and air force. As the Plumber forces continue to take heavy casualties, Jen decided to call for a railgun strike from long distances to take down the enormous dragon.

Almost immediately, several large railguns were set into positions and started firing at Voltaire with many F-16 Fighting Falcon Jets distracting the creature as they make their escape.

Voltaire, not knowing where the blasts are coming from, attempts to fly off, but was cut off by the rest of the Plumber air force.

Several missile strikes manage to hit Voltaire's wings and was finally knocked off his feet. Soon, several B-2 bombers arrive and attacks the fallen dragon.

Voltaire finally retreats back to Alzas after sustaining massive damage, much to the shock and horror of Caro.

Jen begins to cry while retreating as she saw numerous bodies laid out in front of her.

Despite this, the Plumber infantry decides to call for a retreat due to numerous casualties as Hayate carries Erio out of the water.

Knowing that more of the army will die if they continue fighting, Clayton decides to call for a massive retreat, but as Toby begins to run away, he sees one of the TSAB soldiers aiming at Clayton and Toby knocks him over to take the blast himself. Clayton kills the soldier out of reflex.

Clayton watches over the fallen Toby. "Did I do it? Did I make you proud captain?" Toby asked with his dying breath.

Clayton holds Toby's hand tightly as he responds. "Yes, you made everyone proud soldier. Some will speak of your name after the war is over and I promise you that Earth will always be our home."

"Thank goodness." With his last breath, Toby dies as his hand slips from Clayton's grasp.

Clayton walks away as the Plumbers lose a battle for the first time since the war began.

"They may have won the battle, but not the war."

Signum and Vita, exhausted but not seriously injured, joins with the rest of the Riot Force 6 in front of the tower after the battle and were relieved to find out that Erio and Teana survived with only minor injuries, but were distraught to see that about half of Cranagan is destroyed.

In the next scene, Jail Scaglietti returns to his hideout followed by what appears to be his new task force, carrying weapons and armor of dead soldiers from both sides. As more of his task force show up, a half-completed armor is seen being built as Scaglietti smiles upon its progress.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Few days after the failed attempted assault on the tower, the surviving troops of the Plumber army region are back at base helping out the injured and transporting the dead bodies to ships going back to Earth.

Michael, Rena, and Jen are mourning the death of Toby, their long time friend killed in battle trying to protect their captain, while Chris and John are with Clayton in another meeting with the other officers.

The battle with the high-level TSAB officers has caused more than 3 times the casualties of the TSAB forces. With morale decreasing, Clayton was subjected to heavy criticism from the other officers for going against their advice to avoid a frontal assault as the captain tries to explain what actually happened.

"Sir, no disrespect to your authority, but why would you the entire region in danger by charging directly at the enemy forces? Almost a quarter of our troops are gone as a result captain."

"I did not order a full frontal assault. The troops moved out on their own when we ourselves are attacked before we can move."

"Did you at least try to tell them to hold their positions?"

"I did, but as soon as we were spotted the battle was unavoidable. We had no choice but to fight."

"If we continue at this rate, the war will be lost and Earth is doomed for monopolization captain. Don't forget that."

"If we are going to assault the tower again, we are going to need to come up with new battle strategies soon as well as new weapons after watching the power that TSAB officers. With the way we are, there is no chance of turning the tide of the war at this moment."

"We already got that covered captain. We have scientists working feverishly to expand the power of our weapons and increase the magnitude of the Field Seeker probes for a more destructive effect against their defense shields."

"It is not just strength and weapons we need officer, we also need to learn how to outmaneuver and outsmart the high officers of the enemy forces and that is exactly what we are going to do."

"How are we supposed to do that captain? They are patrolling all over the city which makes it impossible to ambush them."

"Not if they cannot see us." Clayton points to a speed ship used for the first infiltration operations.

"Are you suggesting that we use the same technology as our spy teams for the second assault captain?"

"As what we are now, there is no possible way to win by hiding or attacking directly with the high officers in charge so we will have to take them out first before reaching the tower. As long as they are not reckless with the technology we should have a chance of succeeding."

"Very well. We will put the tower mission on hold to get rid of the TSAB officials first, but the only forces we can offer you are the survivors of the last battle."

"That will be all I need officer." Clayton walks away as the Plumber forces immediately went straight to work on duplicating and expanding the power of the new and reused technology from their previous mission.

Within a few more days, over 2000 gadgets and weapons were duplicated. Clayton decides to give the new technology to the snipers and air force.

Chris and John went inside to Clayton's tent where they see him writing down on troops' supposed positions on the map for the next mission.

Chris takes a look at the map. "So what is our plan this time captain?"

"Ambush. We are going to take the officers down by surprise by waiting. The region will move out again, but I will lead the snipers into the city first to take down the higher officers first. The region will keep their distance until they are signaled with flares."

Chris felt uneasy with the plan. "Exactly how are we going to sneak up with the officers when they and their forces are patrolling the whole city?"

"We will use the same technology our spy teams used for infiltration. We won't be seen or detected as easily this time."

"I am not so sure about this." Chris turns to Jen.

"What do you think about this John?"

"If it is followed correctly it might lead to our advantage. I can't really think of anything better than what our captain suggested anyway."

Chris reluctantly agrees and was given authority over a large part of the surviving troops. As they enter Cranagan for the second time, Clayton orders the main troops to stand at a distance from the city to wait for the signal as he orders about 1200 snipers to follow and go to different areas of the city.

With their cloaking and radar-jamming technology, they were successful at passing the security surrounding the city and begin their search for the officers.

Before scattering, Clayton whispers to his communicator in his Plumber badge to the snipers.

"Remember, once we take out enough of the officers, we will send flares to signal the main troops for a second and possibly the last battle. Once the battle begins more officers will show up so don't directly take part in battle unless absolutely necessary, because our part is not over yet. Does everybody understand?

The snipers assured Clayton that they got the order.

"Also remember, the officers are very important in this battle so don't kill them. Only use the probes to knock them out and capture them."

While Chris, Michael, Rena, John, Jen as well as the rest of the Plumber forces wait. The snipers begin storming the city.

"We are going to make them pay for what they did to Toby." John angrily whispered.

"I agree, nobody kills our friend and gets away with it." Rena said as she loads her gun with Michael following.

Jen worries that their desire for vengeance might cloud their judgment, but Chris intervenes.

"Remember that we are still under the orders of our captain so don't do anything reckless like what happened during the last battle."

Jen decides to break out of silence. "Agreed. We will have our opportunity for revenge, but we can't let our feelings get in the way of the mission. We have to win this battle."

Clayton's soon spot Subaru with troopers behind her as Teana patrols the air. Realizing that the opportunity is right in front of him, Clayton throws a silent flash bang in front of her forces to confuse them and shoots Subaru with the probe, detonating her field and knocked her unconscious as the Snipers manage to catch her unseen.

Teana heads back to Subaru's position, but finds out that she isn't there. As soon as she heads back to the air looking for her, she soon was met with the same fate as she was knocked unconscious with the probe and captured.

The explosion alerted everyone, but because the enemy is unseen, the TSAB forces decide to scatter to find the source, not knowing that this was the plan by Plumber forces.

Despite seeing increased activity in the city, Chris tells the troops to hold their position until they are signaled.

Vita is seen flying in the air after being separated from her troops against her orders. She sees one of the marines shot down and flies to the location of the bullet, but is unable to see the enemy due to their cloaking technology.

A sniper on one of the buildings has her on sight and fires a stun probe on her hammer, electrocuting her unconscious.

Hayate from the TSAB HQ was given a report of missing officers and a slow decrease of troopers from unknown assailants.

Realizing that the Plumbers are back for a second battle, Hayate issues a red alert prompting Nanoha, Leanna, Fate, Erio, Caro, and Signum to immediately head to the battlefield.

Although the all the main forces are out in the open, none fired because of lack of visual of the enemies.

Nanoha soon becomes worried. "This is strange. There is nobody there and yet the city is on red alert.

Leanna pushes forward. "Don't be fooled Nanoha. Their technology is not that behind of ours. Don't underestimate them."

"I won't." Nanoha smiled briefly before focusing on her direction.

Fate becomes cautious as she sees a body laid on the grown. "There is no doubt that the Plumbers are here. Everyone keep your guard up."

Clayton knows that they are aware of his army's presence and decides to send the signal to have the main forces distract the officers so they could continue.

"The enemy knows we are here. Fire the flares now."

Multiple flares were soon fired in multiple areas to prevent giving out their location to the TSAB. Chris, seeing the many flares, charges to the city with the rest following him.

They easily manage to break through the security and begin their attack on the city. Because of the new technology they received, the battle is now to their advantage as they are able to break through enemy defenses, killing and capturing many of the unprepared enemy marines.

Nanoha soon sees their improved strength over the TSAB and tries to avoid getting hit by enemy fire knowing that they can now break through her barrier.

Because most of the officers have been captured and the army scattered, the rest of them are having trouble keeping control of the their main forces as the battle intensifies.

Rein witnesses the battle with Hayate. Both are surprised of the Plumbers' newfound strength within only a short amount of time.

"Hayate, if this keeps up we will lose Mid-Childa to enemy hands."

"I know Rein. We will have to hold out as long as we can. We can't let the innocent suffer from this war. Tell the council to prepare a possible retreat of civilians if the war is lost. I want to find out what they are up to." Hayate immediately stands up and transforms for battle with Rein looking at her with concern.

Despite the Plumbers' advantage of the battle, Nanoha, Fate, Leanna, and Signum are still able to hold their own in battle taking out several of ships from the air force along with other combat vehicles.

Signum decides to assist the ground forces as the Plumbers are slowly overwhelming them.

However, they were not able to keep up with the enemy forces, as they were able to in the last battle and could only pass through the enemy ships rather than battle through them.

As more head towards the three, they were forced to split up to avoid enemy fire. This is what Clayton's team of snipers was waiting for. As Fate continues going further away from Leanna and Nanoha, Clayton and his team manages to reach the top of the buildings unseen near Fate's position.

Clayton aims his Barrett Model 99 sniper rifle loaded with 1 Field Seeker probe at Fate's back as she fends off against the air force.

As soon as she starts turning, Clayton fired the probe and destroys her barrier in an explosion. The probe also hits Fate's left arm as blood is being poured from it and within 30 seconds passes out from blood loss with Clayton capturing her before she falls to her death, which Signum witnessed.

Signum tries to reach Fate, but was heavily occupied dealing with the Plumber infantry and air force as they attempt to surround her from all sides.

With most of the wanted officers captured, Clayton decides to have Fate sent to his base and the rest of the officers sent to others. Despite not capturing Nanoha, the operation was a success.

Clayton decides to take out his Magpul FMG-9, a folding submachine gun, and gets himself in the main battle, taking command of the marines after thanking Chris for doing a good job with them.

The rest of the snipers were ordered to take part in the battle while remaining hidden.

Michael and Rena fights their way to the tower only to find their defense shields still holding.

John is part of the air force attempting to pilot his ship towards the tower, preparing very strong napalm covered by Field Seeker probes, but not knowing that Michael and Rena are dangerously close to the tower.

Michael and Rena, seeing that John is about to fire at the tower, sends green smoke in an attempt to warn him, but it was too late.

As soon as the napalm hits, a large explosion surrounds the tower sending both Michael and Rena flying away from it, killing some of their allies, but was able to destroy the barrier surrounding the tower, although the tower is unaffected.

As Hayate show up for battle, she was traumatized to find out that most of the TSAB defenses have now been destroyed, but sees Leanna.

"What is the situation now?"

"Most of the defenses are gone with the Plumbers advancing their way to the tower. Most of the officers have been captured, but our forces are still holding their own."

"If the battle continues like this our forces will soon be overwhelmed. Tell Nanoha and the others to fall back to the tower to activate the secondary shield. This should hold longer against the Plumbers as we need more time for retreating civilians from Mid-Childa."

"Got it." Leanna flees to Nanoha and tells her to call everyone back to the tower.

"Fall back everyone! We got to activate the tower's secondary defense shield!"

All the TSAB forces obeyed as they slowly fall back with the Plumbers following. As soon as all of them are accounted for, the mages brought out there devices create another shield surrounding the tower.

As the Plumbers attempt to break through the shield, Michael wakes up and finds Rena heavily bleeding.

"Rena! Rena!" Michael screamed. Clayton heard Michael's screaming and reaches to their position only to see Michael holding Rena's dying hand.

Clayton tries to comfort Michael as tears are falling from his eyes. "I am so sorry. I am really sorry Rena."

Rena opens her eyes slightly and sees Michael crying. She tightens her grip to Michael's hand as tears started coming out of her eyes. "Please stop crying Michael. It's okay. I have done all I can trying to live my dream, now it is your turn."

"But I don't want to do it without you."

"You have to Michael. You have to remember that Earth is on the line if we lose. Please do what I can never do. Be the hero that you wanted to be. I am already happy enough to make it this far."

Clayton intervenes. "Rena, you are already a hero for doing what you did. I thank you for efforts with our soldiers. A hero is something that you will be remembered by from now on alright."

"Thank goodness." Clayton remembers Toby saying that as he was dying.

"We will get you through this Rena so please don't go."

"No Michael. All I want is one more thing from you." Using the last of her strength, Rena pulls herself up as Michael is holding her and kisses him.

"Goodbye my friend." Rena's body soon becomes lifeless as she drops down.

Michael continues screaming and crying as he holds Rena's dead body. Clayton, also affected by her death, grabs Michael's shoulder. Michael's attention then shifts towards Clayton.

"Captain, if we win this war I want to dedicate this honor to all those who died fighting. My honor will be for Rena."

"You got it Michael. Let's continue for everyone's sake." Michael and Clayton stood up being forced to leave the body and decide to head back to base to interrogate Fate, but not before Clayton ordered his troops to stop firing and surround the tower instead to slowly force them out.

When the firing stopped, Nanoha realizes that Fate is missing along with some of the others.

"Where is everyone? Where is Subaru? Where is Fate?"

Signum then comes forward to tell the bad news to Nanoha. "I am afraid that they've all been captured Nanoha. I am sorry."

Nanoha put both of her hands on her head, fearing what is going to happen to her friends.

Leanna stood in a hallway watching the destruction of the city. "Beautiful, isn't it?" She then shows a sinister smile while watching buildings being burned down.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

With Teana, Vita, Subaru, and Fate captured by the Plumber infantry, the TSAB are getting desperate knowing that they are losing the war. With Clayton announcing a ceasefire due to the capture of one of the captains, the rest of the members of the Riot Force 6 took this time to evacuate the civilians to non-TSAB administrated planets, remembering that the other administrated planets are also at war.

Nanoha and Vivio look out the window depressed since they learned that enemy forces captured Fate.

Leanna meets up with them to try to cheer them up. "Both of you cannot stop thinking about Fate, huh?"

Both remained silent. "Come on you two, I know you are saddened that your friends are captured, but we still got a job to do. Its not like they are going to kill them."

Nanoha and Vivio suddenly turn towards Leanna. "How do you know that?" Nanoha became confused.

"I used to be associated with the Plumbers before deciding to join the TSAB instead. I would never expect the war to happen between us, but for that they need to have a reason. I know well enough that the Plumbers aren't heartless. Whatever enemies they captured, they often show mercy to those that deserve it. If your friends are not found to be criminals, then it's not their lives that you should worry about."

Nanoha and Vivio felt a little better after hearing that their friends will be okay, but Leanna tells them of other possible outcomes.

"However, they better be careful. Though the Plumbers abstain from using torture to get their needed information, your friends might still be subjected to interrogation. If they do not get what they want, they would use other means to get what they need, even though they are not harmful."

Nanoha becomes even more confused than earlier. "My friends won't give in so easily. What makes them think they can get information out of them without harming them?"

"The Plumbers aren't stupid. They tend to play mind games to trick them to reveal the information or using different types of neuroimaging to look at what is inside their mind through a projection based on the images inside their head. After that, they would be sent to a POW camp and those mentally affected will be given help there. That is all I know."

Nanoha could not believe that the Plumbers would show this much mercy to their enemies, but still worries whether her friends are going to be subjected to this kind of interrogation.

"Are you sure that this is what the Plumbers do to their prisoners Leanna?"

"That is what I saw during my time there. It is possible that there might be more to it than just that, but for now your friends should remain unharmed at this time. Come on we still got to get the civilians out." Leanna left to help the others with the evacuation.

Nanoha, realizing that the HQ still needs her, sends Vivio to Lutecia, who offered Vivio shelter some time during the latest battle in a heavily guarded safe house, but Vivio chose to stick with Nanoha, not wanting to see her go after hearing that Fate was captured.

"Vivio, I am sorry, but it is for the best." Nanoha sadly walks away after giving Vivio to Lutecia's family in the safe house.

"No Nanoha mama, I don't want to see you go like Fate mama!" Vivio struggles to reach Nanoha.

"Stay Vivio, I nearly lost you once and I don't want it to happen again. I promise you that Fate mama and I will come back okay? Just wait here."

As Nanoha heads back to HQ, she fears that she would not be able to keep her promise to Vivio as she has promised her before that she would be protected from Jail Scaglietti only for her to be captured later by his forces.

As soon as she is back, the Signum immediately tells Nanoha that they are receiving a message from the Plumbers. When they reach Hayate with the rest of the surviving TSAB infantry the screen turns on and Clayton Calaway appears on the screen attempting to speak.

"This is Clayton Calaway of the Plumber infantry. I am sure you are wondering why we suddenly stopped attacking and what is going to happen to the prisoners we have captured. I will tell you all of this, but before so let me tell you that we are not here to invade Mid-Childa. This is retaliation for the attack you placed on us several months ago. All we want from you to end this war is for you to accept our terms and I promise you we will leave Mid-Childa alone after all of this is over."

Everyone anxiously watched as they hope that Clayton will give them the information that they want to hear.

"This is the same reason for the ceasefire. We want to make sure that with all of you subdued, we could make room for negotiations. As for the prisoners, they will all be sent to POW camps across the galaxy for the remainder of the war. We will promise their release once we reach a settlement so think about it."

Contact information was given on screen after the message was over.

Hayate as well as the rest of the TSAB infantry acted confused at the message, particularly about the attack that he claimed they did to a Plumber base.

"What was he talking about earlier? I don't remember authorizing an attack on them months ago. We haven't had a conflict since the JS Incident last year." Hayate looks through her files to see if such an attack was commenced by them, but found none.

"I didn't know about the attack either, but it appears that we will have to reason with them if we want to prevent further blood shed. I'm going to the Infinity Library with Signum to ask if such an attack really did take place. I am counting on Shario to take care of the negotiations. Can you come with us Hayate?"

"We will contact the Plumbers for answers as well as a possible settlement. Please come back soon." Shario then leaves with Griffith to begin negotiations.

"Will do." Nanoha, Leanna, Hayate, and Signum then flew off.

Meanwhile, Fate is starting to wake up in a Plumber medical facility only to see herself in a hospital gown, her left arm bandaged and wearing black unrestrained cuffs on her wrists. Although she can move around the facility, the cuffs prevent her from using her powers.

"Hey, what are you doing up?" One of the doctors yelled as she saw Fate heading out the door.

Other doctors soon pursue Fate as she runs. When she heads outside she is shocked to find out that their base was formerly the area of the Coastal Airport 8.

"What is this?" Fate immediately comes back to her senses as she continues to run to avoid capture.

As soon as she passes the tank, Clayton ambushed her from behind and pinned her.

"I knew you are going to do something this stupid." Clayton calls John and Chris to restrain her.

"Let me go!" Fate struggles trying to get free, but the Plumbers overmatched her.

"Relax. We have no intention of harming you, we just want to talk."

Fate soon ceases struggling. "What is going to happen to my friends?"

"Don't worry, they are all safe and unharmed. Just bear with me alright?"

Fate reluctantly agrees for the sake of her friends, knowing that they are in Plumber custody.

Fate was sent to an interrogation room where she had a proper meal of chicken teriyaki over rice with mixed vegetables with a cup of water next to it.

As soon as she was done eating, several Plumber workers collects her plate and cup as Clayton comes in and sits down across from her.

"I suppose we got off from the wrong foot so lets start over. My name is Clayton Calaway, the captain of the Plumber infantry. If you have any questions I will answer them, but first you have to answer my questions, understand?"

Fate remains silent as she looks down. Clayton realizes that she is still upset over her capture so he lets her ask her questions first.

"Why did you attack us? Why did you start this war?" Fate immediately responded.

Clayton becomes astonished. "Don't act like you don't know. The war was started because the TSAB attacked our base on Earth. Over 4,000 lives were lost as a result."

"But I don't remember someone authorizing an attack like that. Earth is the former home of some of us and we still have families there. It just doesn't make sense why we would attack it suddenly."

"Are you implying that I am lying?" Clayton becomes agitated.

"No, but I do know that we are not suppose to intentionally cause conflict unless we ourselves are provoked."

"The Plumbers were never associated with the TSAB. There was no reason for us to attack you."

"And there was no reason for us to attack you, yet you blame us for causing this war!" Fate protested.

Clayton, now frustrated, decides to show her a recording of the attack on TV. "You don't believe me? Then watch this."

On the screen shows the Plumber base in Death Valley, California being attacked by TSAB ships as explosions soon appears happening all over the place. In one point of the video, a small female student of the Plumbers' Academy was caught in one of the explosion resulting in her head being decapacitated. In the aftermath of the attack, many dead bodies were seen on the floor as well as limbs separated from some of the main bodies lying in different areas.

As soon as the video was finished, Fate covers almost her entire face, except her eyes, with her hands traumatized by what she saw.

"Impossible. How could the TSAB do such a thing?"

"Wait, you honestly had no idea of the attack?" Clayton soon feels sympathetic toward Fate.

"Never. I have been working with the TSAB for 10 years. I would never imagine them to ever do something like this. Why now? It just doesn't make sense." Tears soon start to fall from Fate's eyes.

"Could you please leave me alone for a while?"

"I guess you need some time to adjust to this. Alright, but I'll be back." Clayton leaves the room out of respect although Michael and John watches Fate from the other room, confused by what has transpired.

"Do you think this war was a mistake?" John asked.

"No idea yet, until we learn more about what really is going on right now we will have to stay back right now."

As Clayton waits outside of the room, Jen tells him that he has a phone call waiting for him. Clayton picks up the phone.

"Hello, who is this?"

"Hello onii-chan, how are you doing?"

Clayton becomes excited after hearing the girl's voice. "Oh hello Alicia, I am doing find thank you."

"Did you find Fate nee-chan yet onii-chan?"

"I have just like I promised Alicia although this isn't the way I would prefer to meet her, but she isn't in the mood at this moment so I cannot to tell her about you yet."

"Okay. Bye onii-chan! I hope you make it back safe and sound."

"Bye Alicia." Clayton hangs up the phone and went to get some iced tea for Fate.

When Clayton goes back to the room, Fate is still in deep thought, but appears to have calmed down.

Clayton hands her the iced tea. "If the TSAB isn't responsible for the attack, I plan to get to the bottom of this to see who is. Since you are my only lead, are you willing to help me in this investigation?"

"I don't want any more people getting hurt, but how do I know I can trust you?" Fate took a sip of her tea.

"This room is actually filled with lie detectors. For instance I am an 8 foot dragon." As Clayton sits back, alarms could be heard, but only in the room.

Fate becomes confused. "Wait, how can it tell when a person is lying?"

"The room is filled with technology that monitors and detects changes in brain waves and gestures that determines whether the people are lying or not. We figured that it is the most humane method to obtain information rather than mentally scarring someone. So will you help?"

"Very well, but only if it can help end the war."

"I am hopeful for that as well."

As Clayton and Fate are about to get off their seat, one of the code breakers barges into the room. "Captain, its not the TSAB who are responsible for the attack! The base of the attack was caused by another individual."

Clayton confronts the code breaker. "Wait, how do you know?"

"Several of our more recent prisoners back on Earth finally confessed as more are being interrogated. Turns out not all the prisoners we have are part of the TSAB infantry; they just disguise themselves as them to remain hidden. They plan to put the TSAB to blame so they could weaken and take over the bureau."

Fate becomes a little irritated. "Who is the individual responsible for this?"

"A guy named Jail Scaglietti."

Fate becomes horrified hearing that name. "No, it can be. We had him locked up, how could he escape?"

"You tell me. You know more about the individual than we do." Clayton protested.

"Let me go. I have to warn everyone that a dangerous madman has escaped and was the one who caused this war."

Clayton unlocked her cuffs. "Let me go to. Me, Michael, Jen, and John will follow. Our lieutenant already got his hands full in Cranagan. The Plumbers also have to know."

Clayton had a Plumber ship set up as they get on and immediately gets the ship moving to the TSAB HQ.

As they flew Clayton walks towards Fate. "Fate, can I ask you something?"

"What is it?"

"Do you know someone by the name of Alicia Testarossa?"

Fate soon finds herself shocked in disbelief. "How do you know her?"

"I am currently raising someone by that name. If you want me to explain it, I'll be more than happy to though it might sound unbelievable."

"The fact that she is alive sounds unbelievable, but since you know her name I would like to hear the rest."

"Very well, but in return you tell me who this Jail Scaglietti guy is."

"Okay. We need to capture him anyway."

As Leanna flies to the library, she secretly took out a communicator to make contact with someone. Jail Scaglietti shows up onscreen.

"Everything going according to plan Scaglietti?"

"But of course. The TSAB and the Plumbers have no idea what is going to come. Soon enough, their power will become ours for the taking."

"Hurry it up, I didn't help break you out for nothing." Leanna smiles sinisterly as they continue flying.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

In the Plumber ship heading towards the TSAB HQ, Alicia Testarossa was revealed to be alive under Clayton's care much to the shock of Fate, who believed that Alicia died with her mother in imaginary space 11 years ago.

"How did you find Alicia's body first of all?"

"Her body was found in some sort of containment unit inside the Null Void 5 years prior to today."

"Wait a minute! Are you saying that Alicia was found in a different dimension?" Fate becomes shocked.

"The Null Void is where she was found, yes."

"Impossible, she along with my mother fell into imaginary space. Those who are trapped inside are doomed to fall forever. How can Alicia be in a different dimension and what about my mother?"

"I was getting to that. You see not long after we found her body, we took her to the planet Galvin Prime to have her body examined. It was revealed that the liquid her body was in apparently kept her body in a condition as if she had only just died instead of being dead for a few years making it possible to revive her."

Clayton moves towards the windows of the Plumber ship, starring at the moons.

"The leader of the Galvins, Azmuth, and his workers decided to revive her in order to get some answers after finding out that her brain can still take in electrolytes."

"During the procedure as I waited for the results, Paradox suddenly shows up behind me to explain her origins and how she and her mother got out of imaginary space. He revealed that when he was traveling to other dimensions to fix a disruption occurring in the fabric of time, he accidentally caused a time warp in imaginary space where Alicia and your mother were in, transporting them to other dimensions instead and Alicia apparently was transported to the Null Void and is impossible to know which one your mother was transported during the time as there are infinite amount of dimensions."

"Why did Azmuth decide to revive her anyway and who is Paradox?"

Clayton took a sip of water. "Paradox used to be an average scientist studying the concepts of time when an experimental accident caused him to gain the power to travel through time and dimensions. As for Azmuth, he believed that there was more to her than meets the eye. The fact that she was found in imaginary space creates great curiosity among all of us on why she was there as Azmuth knows that the dimension can only be accessed by certain beings as he fears that those who have access to imaginary space might cause a huge distortion causing the dimension to collapse on itself, but all that was explained eventually."

"The mother was eventually found, but was already dead for quite sometime so we couldn't do anything for her I am afraid."

Fate moves next to Clayton. "So how did Alicia felt about being alive again?"

Clayton snickered a bit. "When Alicia woke up, she found herself in complete shock to know that she is alive again and had no idea where she was. However, after hearing her mother's death, Alicia soon became sad of the tragedy and begins to cry. I hugged her and told her that I can't replace the ones she loved, but promises that I will never leave her side, but I wasn't qualified as her guardian due to my young age at the time. Since then Alicia looked up to me as her older brother and told me a little about you and how much she wanted to meet you while she was dead."

"Does she know that you are currently at war with us? Fate asked with concern.

"Yes. Before she knew that I was going to war, I never told her that I was a former Mid-Childan or the reason why I left. She later found out when she saw the TSAB ships attacking our base. When it was time for me to go, I left her with the Harlaown family, with whom I was great friends with along with the Takamachi family."

Fate suddenly becomes surprised. "Wait a minute, you were friends with both me and Nanoha's family? How did they react when you found out you were going to war?"

"My relationship with them took a step down when they found out. I didn't realize they have daughters there in Mid-Childa until they told me. Alicia, along with my aunt and uncle, isare the only ones who are willing to speak to me as of right now. She made me promise that I will keep you and Nanoha alive during this war. This promise I took to heart even though I cannot guarantee it."

"So that is why you didn't kill me when you had the chance. It makes me feel excited and scared at the same time knowing that she is alive now."

"Would you like to meet her after the war is over?"

Fate smiled and nodded. "I would like that very much."

"Alright, now tell me who Jail Scaglietti is since it is part of the deal."

"Scaglietti was a scientist responsible for my birth. I found out that I was a clone of Alicia from my mother. His ambition is to control the world by implanting a Relic inside Vivio, Nanoha's adopted daughter and also created by Jail Scaglietti. He would use this relic to control Saint's Cradle, a Belkan battleship, and put her in Saint King mode for combat. Although he was successful in kidnapping Vivio, the TSAB was able to thwart his plans and have him locked up. I never thought he would be able to escape again."

Fate suddenly becomes saddened. "To know that it was him who brought me life made me regret ever being born sometimes. Because of this, I never had a normal childhood and always had to obey orders. It was only because of Nanoha I was able to change, but the pain still remains."

"I am sorry to hear that Fate. I didn't have a normal childhood as well. I used to live here in Mid-Childa, but then a sudden turmoil killed both of my parents and some of my friends when I was young accidentally caused by the TSAB. This tragedy forced me to move to Earth with my uncle and aunt so I can move on. We can't change our pasts, but we can choose our future. Once this war is over, I planned to return to my family and friends on Earth to see if we can come up with a peace plan with the TSAB."

Clayton suddenly grabbed Fate's hands. "As for Scaglietti, he won't escape this time, because even though both sides are at war right now, at least we know who the real enemy is and we will help stop him once and for all, I promise."

Fate blushed a little, but smiled. "Thank you captain."

"Captain, are you sure we want to help our enemy." John became concerned at the promise.

"If they really were our enemy, their families wouldn't be living on Earth private. It was already shown that they were not the enemy when most of our POWs denied the base attack that started this war."

Jen surprised Fate from behind. " Looks like someone might have a little crush on our young captain."

Fate tries to shake off her embarrassment. "No I don't! I was just grateful that he would help me, nothing else.

Jen laughs while teasing Fate continuously. "Uh-huh sure Fate, which is exactly what your bright red face says."

Michael interrupts. "Can you save your love talk for later? Look at what is happening outside!"

Everybody turns to the windows and saw that both the Plumbers and the TSAB are fighting again as explosions occur in mid air.

"What is going on here? I thought that you announced a ceasefire captain!" John screamed.

"I did! Scaglietti must have planned this. He wants the war to go on so he so he made sure that the ceasefire failed to uphold."

Fate transforms into battle mode. "Then we must hurry to the HQ before it is too late."

"Agreed. Michael, activate the cloaking device, Jen, activate the radar jamming devices, and John, full speed ahead." Clayton grabs his gun.

"You got it captain." John responded.

"Next stop, the TSAB HQ." Fate becomes anxious.

As the fight gets more intense, the Plumbers are getting closer to break the second barrier while the TSAB forces prevents them for doing so.

In the next scene, Rein rushes to Shario in response to the attack. "What is going on? Why are we fighting?"

"Someone activated the defense grid and blasted part of the Plumber infantry. Negotiations broke down and the Plumbers are blaming us for the surprise attack and everything has started all over again. This time, we are able to push the Plumbers back but we don't know how long our control will last."

The room started to shake, knocking both Shario and Rein down.

Rein transforms to battle mode. "Listen, attempt to negotiate again with the Plumbers while I try to hold them off alright?"

"Okay." Shario stands up as Rein flies off to the battlefield.

Combat vehicles began moving further into the town with TSAB infantry attempting to surround them. A machine gunner operating on a Joint Light Tactical Vehicle (JLTV) was suddenly ambushed by an enemy marine coming out of the corner and shot him in the head with his device, only to be replaced by another in the vehicle. Despite heavy firing from the TSAB forces, some of the vehicles were able to survive its dangerous trip attempting to get closer to the TSAB HQ.

Numerous Plumber ships, Cobra helicopters, F-16s, and A-10 jets were sent to neutralize the air defenses in the city. Their numbers were enough to keep even the TSAB mages at bay despite their more advanced technology.

As Leanna makes her way to the Infinity Library with Nanoha, Signum, and Hayate, she saw from the windows that there is green smoke coming out from one of the buildings signaling the need for back up along with a tank column moving towards the area. She takes out AN/PRC-148 radio in response.

"Is everything in place?" Leanna whispers.

One of Scaglietti's new followers responded, "All explosives are set Leanna."

"Good, do it." As soon as Leanna puts away her radio, explosives in one of the buildings near the tank line started detonating, collapsing the building on the tank column wiping most of them out. Nonetheless, the surviving ground forces still attempt to reach the building where the green smoke is lit.

The rest of the group saw the collapse of the building and stopped briefly before continuing with Nanoha turning her head away from the site to maintain focus.

As a Cobra helicopter passes Hotel Augusta, one of the TSAB marines shot out an energy blast knocking the helicopter out of the sky. The impact killed one of the pilots, but the other survived.

The Cobra pilot attempts to contact the command base. "Our Cobra has been shot down, request immediate extraction."

"Negative on that request, there are SAM sites all over the place. Additional ground forces are on their way to extract you to an LZ, but have encountered heavy resistance hold on!"

"Will do." As soon as the pilot settles down she notices that there are many numerous enemy signatures on her radar and prepares her gun.

The Plumber command center saw multiple counts of TSAB infantry on their way to the crash site and attempts to contact the pilot. "We have multiple enemy signatures coming towards the crash site, I suggest you move away to an inner alley on your left."

"Roger." Despite the pilot's injuries, she manages to crawl behind the dumpster to wait for back up.

As a couple of TSAB forces made their way to the alley, snipers on their way to the same area shot down a couple of them.

"Hold your fire, we are not the enemy." One of the snipers screamed out.

The pilot crawls out to the front of the dumpster. "American and British sniper teams? What are you guys doing here?"

"The UN gave permission for us to enter the war so we had the Plumbers take us here. The most of the Western forces have been called here to help you fight the war."

Another soldier interrupts. "Hopefully with our assistance, we will have better chances of winning this war."

"Thanks for coming guys, but where is the back up?"

"You're looking at them."

"Really? Is that all? Well I hope you guys are good, because the enemy signatures still outnumber our own. The best we can do is to fight them off."

"And that is exactly what we are going to do. Lieutenant, extract the pilot to a safe zone while we hold our position."

"Yes sir." As soon as one of the soldiers starts moving the pilot, the TSAB forces were soon caught on sight. The infantry attempts to fight them off, but are heavily outnumbered and outgunned with one slowly being killed after another. Despite the demise of the small infantry, they were able to buy enough time for the pilot to escape to an extraction point where a Chinook helicopter is waiting for them.

The pilot did not fare to well with the losses. "What are you doing? All of them are sacrificing their lives just to get me?"

"Yes, but is too late if we go back now we all die." The lieutenant replied.

"No!" The pilot attempts to crawl back to the sniper teams, but the helicopter took off before she was able to come out.

The lieutenant forced her back to her seat. "Calm down. These soldiers know what is at risk, but they still chose to go. This is war and anything can happen in a war. We can only try to make sure that their deaths aren't in vain."

Nanoha, Hayate, Signum, and Leanna are later seen making their way in the hallway still on their way to the Infinity Library, Fate suddenly stood in front of them along with Clayton next to her and several of his Plumbers behind them much to their shock.

Knowing that the group will get the wrong impression, Fate decides to speak. "Everyone, there is something you all need to know about this war."

Leanna looks on nervously as she fears that Scaglietti's plan might be exposed too early.

The next scene shows Lutecia's safe house being destroyed by Scaglietti's followers with Lutecia, Cindi, Nove, and Sein incapacitated in a vain attempt to protect Vivio.

"Scaglietti, we got the girl, we are on our way now." One of the followers responded carrying an unconscious Vivio.

"Excellent, bring her to me so we can commence with the next part of the plan." Scaglietti hangs up as his followers fly away to his hideout.

**Note: I know that this fanfic is full of clichés, but I am not a good writer. I will probably be also subjected to criticism for the possible pairing, random events, and lack of character development, but this is my story and if you don't like it, please just read the others. I just want to get them out of my head before I lose it. There were many influences that made this battle, which I can't list them all.**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A few hours ago…

"Scaglietti, the Plumbers have announced a ceasefire to make room for possible negotiations. However, I was able to hack into one of the Plumber's satellites and found that more reinforcements are coming, though not much, and based on what I heard on their communications, the reinforcements are actually Earth's own military. Do we have everything we need to overthrow the TSAB before the Earth's forces arrive?"

"Not yet Leanna. If the war ends too early, this whole operation will be pointless. I trust that you have everything under control. Do whatever you must to make sure this war continues."

"Yes sir." Leanna puts away her radio and leaves the safe room where she bumps into Nanoha.

"Nanoha, you all right? Where is Vivio?" Leanna asked.

Nanoha turns her head slightly. "I am alright and I left Vivio in Lutecia's safehouse to protect her. Where are you heading off to?"

"I received orders to meet up in the command center to discuss possible evacuation areas for those who are still here. I will be with you once I am done." Leanna left in an instance leaving Nanoha slightly confused.

Leanna reaches the command center and knocks on the door. One of the men shows up in front of the doorstep.

"Hello Leanna, is there anything we can do for you?"

"General, I have just received orders to meet up with you to discuss possible battle strategies. I just received information that the Earth's military forces might in the war."

"What, now even Earth's own forces are interfering? We are already losing a majority of our own soldiers, we can't afford another war." This information caught the attention of everyone in the command center.

"That is what I am here for sir." Scaglietti's henchman soon begins to surround the room unseen wearing black armor similar in shape to those of the Plumber infantry.

"All right, come in Leanna we are going to need all the help we can get." Leanna and some of the people in the command center gather together near the map showing multiple positions of both the Plumbers and the TSAB in Mid-Childa.

Leanna moves towards the map pinpointing several locations of the battlefield. "As you can see, these are the areas that the Earth's forces are planning to use as landing zones, but is not heavily guarded. If we attack at these points we should be able to ambush the Plumbers from behind and gain the advantage from there."

"Are you kidding?" The general intervenes. "That's suicide! The Plumbers already have us outnumbered in those areas. Even though those are the most vulnerable points right now, the Plumbers would eventually surround our forces in an instance they are caught.

"This isn't a suggestion general, this is an order from the higher-ups." Leanna grabs her gun behind her, but doesn't pull it out.

"I don't care what the higher ups said, I won't risk my men. We will have things settled once we have completed negotiations with the Plumbers, which will end the war once and for all."

"We can't just sell out to them, they are our enemies general. We should take every chance we have to win this war." Leanna protested.

"We are fighting a losing battle Leanna. If the war continues, then the whole planet will become nothing more than ruins. I am sorry, but for the fate of Mid-Childa, the decision is final." The general turns his back on Leanna.

"All right. That's all I need to hear." Leanna quickly takes out her gun and begins shooting the general and several others. Before the rest can act, Scaglietti's henchman came into the room and shoot down the rest until there is no one alive in the command center.

Leanna then takes out her communicator. "Scaglietti, the command center is secured. We are going to activate the defense grid against the Plumbers to make sure the war continues."

"I knew it was something you can handle Leanna. The operation will commence as planned."

"One more thing you have to know. Nanoha told me that Vivio has been left in Lutecia's safehouse."

"Very well. I will have my henchman get her as a temporary power source. After that she will be no longer of use to me, but as a hostage. It is also time to pay my traitors a visit for abandoning me. I can already picture the downfall of the TSAB at this moment." Scaglietti laughs maniacally over his communicator.

"Slow down, we have yet to be at 100%. I will meet you once I am ready." Leanna puts away her communicator and heads towards the defense grid.

Missiles then shoot away from the HQ towards the TSAB forces, scrambling them all over the area, forcing air support to intervene and causing the TSAB to desperately defend themselves despite not fully recovered from the last assault.

"All has gone as planned." Leanna whispers to herself and then receives a call from Nanoha.

"Leanna? Where are you? I am going to meet with Hayate, aren't you coming?"

"I will be there." Leanna then leaves the command center.

Back in present time Nanoha, Leanna, Hayate, and Signum were on the way to the Infinity Library when they surprisingly saw that Fate was in front of them followed by Clayton, John, Michael, and Jen.

"Fate? What is going on?" Nanoha asked in disbelief.

Signum attempted to attack the Plumbers, but Fate blocked her attack further surprising them.

"Stop Signum! Listen to me everyone; this isn't what it looks like. I learn from them that this war was just only a part of some big plan. Oh, and let me introduce you to the team's captain Clayton Calaway."

Clayton steps forward. "I know you guys are confused right now, but after some explaining you will understa.."

Before Clayton could finish, a tank shell hits and shakes the building they were in knocking everyone off their feet.

Hayate helps Nanoha up. "It isn't safe here. You can continue once we reach the Infinity Library."

Everyone agreed. As soon as they reached the Infinity Library, they find Yuuno, Erio, and Caro and several of the injured troops taking refuge there, while John was made to guard the door in case of enemy break in. They were all shocked to find that enemy forces have reached their safe point, but the Plumbers and Fate assures them that they are not their enemy.

Once they are gathered together, Signum becomes more demanding for an explanation from Fate.

"Why did you let the Plumbers into our HQ? Have you turned against us?"

"If I have I would be attacking you, but I did not. It is through my capture that made us learn why this war has started." Everyone becomes confused at her response.

Fate turns to Nanoha. "Neither one of us started this war. All of this was caused by Jail Scaglietti."

Everyone becomes terrified. Nanoha stood up. "But we had Scaglietti locked up! How could he have done this?"

"Sit down Nanoha! We will have it all explained." Clayton screamed.

Everybody remains silent as Fate tells the story. "It appears that the Numbers were not the only Scaglietti supporters. There was a lot more that we didn't see or know about."

Clayton then decides to tell the most likely theory he heard from the code breakers. "It appeared that he knew that the chances of succeeding his last operation was low and decided to hire mercenaries for his back up plan. Once the TSAB is off guard, they set Scaglietti free and had themselves disguised as several staff members of the TSAB in order to gain access to technology. Learning his lesson from his last battle with the TSAB, he knew that going into another fistfight is practically suicide so he decided that he needs someone else to do the battle for him."

Jen intervenes to continue the story. "This must mean that under their TSAB disguise, they were able to steal some of your technology and had them flown to our base on Earth to commence their attack and because the technology they used was yours, your agency was blamed for these attacks which would give us a reason to go to war."

Fate finishes the rest. "All of this was part of his plan to weakened both the Plumbers and the TSAB in order for him to take over the bureau once we are thrown out of power."

Signum remains suspicious of the Plumbers. "Wait a minute. Why should we believe that? Many lives have been destroyed because of this war. Why should we believe the side of our enemies?"

"We have a recording of the attack. We will show it to you right now." Clayton handed Fate the camera and had the whole footage of the attack shown to everyone in the group.

"We also have POWs that were actually Scaglietti's followers disguised as your infantry. They are the ones who revealed his plan."

With the truth revealed, everyone is now in question on what to do next.

Hayate stands up. "All right. I know right now we can't just end the war right off the back, so here is what we are going to do, Scaglietti's hideout is located underground in Eastern Mid-Childa. If we leave now we should still be able to catch up to him before his plan is completed.

Leanna becomes anxious as she suddenly grabbed her plasma pistol behind her, but before they can move on, Lutecia suddenly broke into the library bloodied and beaten.

"Nanoha, Scaglietti knew of our safehouse. His henchman attacked us and took Vivio. We were unable to stop him. Fate rushes in and grabbed Lutecia before she loses consciousness.

Nanoha did not take the news very well as she started remembering the same incident a year back. "Why is it all happening again?"

"Maybe its another part of his plan. It appears that he still hasn't given up on Vivio yet to use her as a relic, but we still have a chance to stop him if we leave now." Clayton explains.

Leanna stands up. "I am afraid I can't let you do that." Everybody turns towards Leanna.

"The assumptions you have made were good guesses, but it is not fully accurate. First off, Scaglietti needed to have this war to take over the TSAB, which is correct, but needed technology from both sides in order for his plan to work, which is why he wanted both sides to kill each other in order to steal their technology after. He only plans to have Vivio be used as a temporary power source and will have no use for her after that. Once Scaglietti gathers enough power, he plans to massacre all the officers in the TSAB in order to take full control of their agency. This would lead to his dreams of world domination. However, what he didn't know is that he is currently only being used as a puppet for a much bigger plan, because my friends the one who started this war was ME!

Leanna takes out her pistol and begins shooting at everyone, killing Erio, Hayate, wounding Michael and Signum, who was charging right at her.

She then saw that the Plumbers are starting to go on the offensive and used a smoke pellet to cover up her retreat.

The attack destroyed a small part of the library as well as traumatizing the injured that were not part of the group.

Fate attempts to revive Erio, but to no avail. Yuuno does the same to Hayate's lifeless body with Signum crawling towards her.

Michael, however, was protected by his armor and only his left arm was injured, but bleeding.

With the deaths of some of their most important friends and teammates, Nanoha, Fate, Caro, Yuuno, Signum, and some of the injured soldiers begin mourning over their losses. Clayton and the rest of his team, surprised by what has transpired, are left traumatized and speechless.

Caro cries continuously while laying on Erio's body. "This can't be happening. It just can't." Caro lets out a very loud scream, but the equally affected Fate calms her down and hugs her.

Signum also lies on Hayate's body crying, believing that she has failed her duty as her protector.

Yuuno attempts to calm Nanoha down, but all these events nearly caused her to have an emotional breakdown.

With the approval of his team, Clayton finally takes a stand once everybody has calmed. "All right, that's it! Everyone listen to me, the war that this girl caused have laid thousands dead including some of our friends and I don't plan on laying their feeling sorry for myself. Our friends died hoping they could see the end of war, but as long as we continue to mourn them helplessly nothing will get down. To make sure that their deaths aren't in vain, we have to take action as soon as possible."

Nanoha, Caro, and Signum immediately transform into their battle costumes, but Signum is still injured from the attack, laying her down on her knees.

"Remember that we are doing this for our loved ones so losing is not an option. Michael, Jen, help Signum get to our ship and set a course to Coastal Airport 8. We will have her treated and discuss the next plan to end this war. We'll make sure that this traitor pays for what she has done."

As Signum is being escorted, she grabs Clayton's shoulder in order to speak to him. "Listen to me, once we find Leanna, let me be the one who finish her off. She and I still have some unfinished business to attend to."

Clayton nods at Signum's request after seeing that her fighting spirit is back. "She is all yours."

Nanoha also turns to Clayton for a request. "Clayton, I know that you and I are formerly on opposite sides, but Fate told me that you know about the JS Incident. If I can make a request, please save Vivio. I beg of you."

"I will Nanoha, but remember that we are just as involved in this battle as you are." Nanoha nodded at Clayton's response.

With things finally settled, the ship finally took off to the Plumber base.

Back in Scaglietti's hideout, Vivio finds herself in the same situation she was in a year ago during the JS Incident. Jail Scaglietti appears in front of her in black armor completely covering his body, similar in appearance to Garyu, but more primal, dark, and beastlike with a visible centerpiece. Several of his followers came behind him.

"You thought that you have seen the last of me did you Vivio? You thought I would be gone forever from your life huh? Well, you are mistaken."

Vivio begins to cry in fear. "Mama, Mama, where are you?"

"Sure, call both of your mamas Vivio, they will be the first to die once I test this new armor, that is if they can survive my followers' assaults with theirs. Once I gather power from you using the Relic, the Relic and all your power will go to me and then nothing will stop me from ruling Mid-Childa, not even the Plumbers and the TSAB."

Vivio soon begins to fear for Nanoha and Fate, knowing that crying for help is exactly what Scaglietti wanted in order to have them killed.


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Within a couple of hours after Leanna's betrayal, Leanna arrives at the hideout to reveal the outcome to the unarmored Jail Scaglietti.

"Scaglietti, some of the members of both the Plumbers and the TSAB have already found out about the plan. The Plumber code breakers are working faster than we predicted."

Scaglietti turns towards Leanna. "Did you take any action to delay them Leanna?"

"I did sir. I manage to kill and injured a couple of their best teammates. They won't be able to make their move for at least a couple of days, especially with the war still going on."

"Good Leanna. The plan is almost complete, once it's done, Mid-Childa will soon be ours for the taking." Scaglietti laughs maniacally.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Leanna suddenly pulls up her pistol and shoots Scaglietti in the back, knocking him down.

Scaglietti looks up at Leanna pointing her gun at him. "Leanna, you betrayed me?"

"You see, it is not just this planet I want. What I also want is revenge on the Plumbers for humiliating just for doing my job, but in order to do that I needed a strong army. When I saw increased activity of the TSAB on Earth, I tracked them down in order to get close to them so I can use their technology, but when I heard of the JS Incident I decided that you would make a good puppet so no one would notice until now. The war wasn't my idea until you told me what it can do to both sides and the amount of followers you have for your plan looked promising so I thank you for that, but you are no longer of use for me anymore."

Leanna points her gun again on Scaglietti. "Any last her words before you die?"

Scaglietti sadistically gave out a smile. "So you used me just so you can exact your revenge? Good job Leanna, you are becoming more like me every second. However, I don't take betrayals to lightly."

One of Scaglietti's followers suddenly came out from the side and hit leanna with two shots; one on her gun, forcing her to release it, and one on her arm where she was holding the gun, causing her arm to bleed excessively.

As she holds her wounded arm, Scaglietti easily stood up, revealing that he was wearing body armor the whole time. The black armored suit he was wearing earlier starts moving from behind him as if it was liquid eventually covering up his body.

"You see Leanna, just having the power isn't enough. I wanted this power to become a part of me so I had my body fused with it."

Scaglietti points to the now distraught Leanna. "You have been very useful for my plan Leanna, but nothing is going to stop me, not even you. Leanna, I am relieving you of your command."

A bean shoots out of his armored finger, instantly killing Leanna as her body now lies in a pool of her own blood.

One of Scaglietti's followers rushes to the body. "Should I throw out her body sir?"

"No. Her body still has power. Put her body in a containment unit for the transfer so I can absorb it."

Vivio, traumatized by what she witnessed, begins to cry in fear as Scaglietti walks towards her.

"It is time for my own revenge." Scaglietti had the Relic implanted and activated a machine that Vivio is trapped in. This created an electrical surge causing great distress and pain to the little girl as she started to lose control of the Relic.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! STOOOOPPP IIIITT!" Vivio continues to scream in great pain as the Relic becomes more active.

Once all her power to control the Relic is absorbed inside the jewel itself, Scaglietti removes the jewel without damaging her body, but leaving her unconscious, and forcefully puts it into his armor's centerpiece. After the Relic is implanted. Scaglietti then releases a little of the power of his suit as a test, which resulted in the ground almost completely shattered.

Scaglietti then turns to his followers. "As I understand from Leanna's last file, some of the top TSAB officers are heading to the Plumber base near Coastal Airport 8. I want you guys to kill them if you can to keep this war going."

"No problem sir." His followers then head to another part of the hideout to gather a small army and prepare for the attack.

A couple of days later back in Coastal Airport 8, Signum and Michael are still being tended by Jen to after receiving injuries from Leanna's assault to delay them, which also killed Erio and Hayate.

John and Clayton frantically search in the Plumber and TSAB databases to find out who Leanna is with Nanoha and Yuuno watching while Fate comforts Caro, who is still traumatized over Erio's death.

As Clayton manages to unlock the Plumbers' secret files, he found an article that reveals a picture of Leanna, but under a different name, Kyoko Harada.

Clayton calls everyone to come to his area. "Hey everyone, I found something on Leanna. She used to be known as Kyoko Harada, a former inventor of Plumber weaponry. She was kicked out of the Plumbers in an incident that happened several years ago against the Forever Knights when Kyoko, or should I say Leanna, was exposed of stealing Plumber technology for personal use. She did not take the news well and left Earth soon after to a non-Plumber administrated planet, which probably lead her to here."

Fate took a closer look at the article. "In retaliation she pretended to be part of the TSAB in order to access our technology to get revenge on the Plumbers by starting this war. Knowing she cannot do this alone she went to Jail Scaglietti in hopes that he would agree with her plan as it involves getting revenge on the TSAB as well."

Yuuno then intervenes. "It is no surprise that Scaglietti still has followers and supporters. After Scaglietti was arrested, there were reports of protests and riots people that support his ideology. Leanna used them to help free him and the Numbers that are still on his side. There were also reports of an incident involving a turmoil which she was supposed to take control of, but instead ended at the cost of 20 lives and hundreds missing 6 years ago."

Clayton suddenly turns to Yuuno. "Wait a minute, that incident was what killed my parents and forced me to move out of Mid-Childa. When I was standing alone watching as part of Cranagan burning down, I saw a young girl with blond hair holding a gun and as she shoots, I saw a smile on her face making herself look like she was enjoying this. I despised the TSAB since then and left in order to avoid them."

"Understandable captain." Yuuno continued. "Leanna must have used this incident in order to weakened the TSAB's reputation."

"Leanna then waited all this time for the next step of her plan. I read reports that some TSAB workers were missing along with most of the ships they were working on under Leanna's command. This is what they must have used to attack the Plumber base and started this war." Nanoha interrupted.

"The war was used not only as a distraction, but also to weaken us in order for him and his followers to succeed in taking control of both the Plumbers and the TSAB." Signum appears out of nowhere behind them.

Now knowing the truth, Clayton closes his files. "This war cannot end with Scaglietti and Leanna still at large. I am calling the general to end this."

The holographic projection shows up on Claytons screen showing a middle-aged man in a battle uniform.

"Ah! Captain Calaway, I assume you have everything in control right?"

"Sir, the war was a mistake. It was all a part of a plan of some insane madman named Jail Scaglietti to weaken us. We have to call a ceasefire now to end this hostility."

"No can do Clayton. They were the ones who made the first move and they shall pay for it."

"But general, continuing this battle will only cause more deaths. These soldiers our dying for the wrong reasons. We have to stop this now!"

"Silence! Over 4,000 lives were lost in that attack and you are saying we should appease them by ending the war?

"Sir, what about the soldiers that are still fighting? Aren't their lives just as important as those who died in the attack?"

"Enough Clayton! All you are doing is letting your emotions get in the way of what is truly important. I am sorry, but I am relieving you of your command. You are not suited to lead them. Goodbye Clayton." The general hangs up.

Nanoha and Fate attempts to comfort the now-slightly depressed Clayton.

Michael gets up from his bed. "Don't worry Clayton. We will stay with you always until Scaglietti is defeated.

"You are still our captain Clayton. You give the orders and we do the rest." John draws his gun.

Nanoha grabs Clayton's shoulder. "There is no one here that we would listen to other than you so cheer up okay?"

Clayton looks up and sees everyone smiling at him. "Thank you, everyone."

Suddenly loud gunshots are heard outside the base. Through the radio a voice can be heard alerting everyone of the emergency. "Unknown hostiles in our perimeter! We need back up!"

The group looked outside and saw approximately 200-300 of Scaglietti's followers fighting the guards in an attempt to kill them.

Clayton closes the tent's curtain. "Head for the ship! Scaglietti already made his move! We have to stop him now!"

Everyone rushed back in the ship, including the still injured Michael and Signum, to head to Scaglietti's base.

In the ship, Clayton and what is left of his time armed themselves as Nanoha and the rest do the same.

Jen turns to Fate. "Since you fought Scaglietti before, you are going to have to lead us to his hideout."

"I will." Fate replied.

"Does everyone know the plan is?" Clayton asked.

"I do." Michael responded with high enthusiasm.

"The girls fight Scaglietti while we do the rescuing of the girl."

Clayton suddenly gets a call from Chris. "Clayton, I heard that you were relieved of your command from interfering with the war. Care to explain?"

"I will explain later, right now we tracked down a large group of unknown hostiles heading in your direction as well as the TSAB. They are apparently targeting both of you. Stop fighting the TSAB and have your troops ready to fight these new hostiles."

"Will do sir." Chris hangs up the phone and saw thousands of Scaglietti's followers heading to them with some of them destroying Plumber ships and the rest shooting at the TSAB and Plumber infantry.

"Everyone, forget about the TSAB for now! We have thousands of unknown hostiles heading our way intending to eliminate both sides and I want everyone to prepare for battle and that includes the TSAB!"

"Yes sir." Seeing that the threat is on their way, both the Earth military forces and the Plumbers shifted their attention to Scaglietti's followers much to the shock of the TSAB until they saw the army themselves heading towards both them and the Plumbers.

The TSAB responded to this threat by taking positions alongside the Plumbers, working with each other for the first time much to the frustration of the general, who intended to kick the TSAB out of power.

Rein suddenly came out and stood side by side with Chris.

"Looks like we'll have to put our differences aside for now huh?" Rein smiles slightly.

"I am hoping that would both of us working together, the war will end soon." Chris responded.

"Agreed." Both Rein and Chris continue to stare on Scaglietti's followers as they prepare for battle.

Once they arrived at the hideout, they found the entrance to be completely empty. As they moved further into the hideout, they soon find bodies of Leanna and several of the Numbers, Uno, Sette, and Quattro, in several containers connected by small tubes.

"What is this?" Fate becomes terrified of what she has witnessed.

Signum and Caro took a look at Leanna's body. "Scaglietti must have betrayed Leanna for his own gain."

Signum becomes mad knowing that she can no longer take revenge on her as promised.

Clayton continues to advance. "Shhh. I hear something further in the hideout. Follow me and stay quiet."

When they reached further into the hideout, they went inside a large storage filled with the battle suits of Scaglietti's followers and weapons. The group soon spots Vivio, heavily injured, lying on the ground.

Nanoha immediately rushes to her. "Vivio wake up, Mama is here."

Vivio then opens her eyes, but instead of being happy, she becomes frightened. "No. Get away."

"What?" Nanoha becomes confused as well as everyone else.

Vivio continues to speak. "Get away, get away, GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"So my soldiers failed to eliminate you, but no matter I will kill you myself."

Scaglietti then appears suddenly on top tossing Vivio away and standing in front of the small group. "Well if it isn't nice to see some of you once more."

Everyone is in shock of Scaglietti's appearance in the black suit he currently wears.

"Scaglietti, what is all of this?" Nanoha asked.

"I am sure Vivio knows." Scaglietti turns to Vivio

"Everyone, Scaglietti killed Leanna and the rest of the Numbers to absorb their power into his suit. He implanted a Relic inside of me to absorb my power and had the Relic implanted in his suit. He used me as a trap to lure you here." Vivio then falls unconscious again.

"You monster!" Signum and Caro, disgusted by what they just heard, charged at Scaglietti, but partially due to Signum's injury, Scaglietti was able to easily incapacitates them and put them out of action before they reach him.

Fate attempts to use her speed to outmaneuver Scaglietti, but he easily saw through that and slams her head hard to the ground.

"All of the power he absorbed into the suit has made him stronger. He has got to have a weakness. Michael, have that suit examined."

"Yes Clayton." Michael head towards the boxes near the weapons crate.

"Oh no you don't!" Scaglietti rushes towards him but Nanoha cuts him off.

"Excelion Buster!" Nanoha's attack knocked back Scaglietti, but much to her surprise the attack had no effect on him.

"Is that all you got?" Scaglietti fires an energy blast from his right hand towards Nanoha. Nanoha attempts to defend herself, but the attack breaks through her barrier and knocks her back to the wall.

Fate, having recovered from the attack, uses Jet Zamber, but Scaglietti easily shattered her blade and in response, Fate uses Sonic Drive. She then charges at the patient Scaglietti with her now repaired sword in a similar style to how she defeated Scaglietti the last time, but again her attack was intercepted and she was knocked directly at a pile of metal boxes crashing through them.

Nanoha gets up and sees Scaglietti charging towards her. Nanoha then points Raising Heart at him and attacks him with Axel Shooter, but again the attack had no effect on him.

Scaglietti then punches Nanoha in the abdomen with enough impact that blood came out of her mouth.

As they continue to fight, Clayton has been sneaking Vivio away from Scaglietti to hide her with Michael, who is still trying to analyze the suit for weaknesses, but Scaglietti caught up to Clayton.

"Leaving so soon? The fun has only just begun."

As Scaglietti approaches Clayton and Vivio, Jen took out her Mark 12 Techadorian Multiblaster and shoots Scaglietti from behind. Although it had more of an effect on Scaglietti, he still remains unharmed.

"Did you know that this armor is made out of metal from my anti-magic drones and other suits of dead Plumbers? Too bad, because you will die next."

Scaglietti charges towards Jen, but Clayton took out his own Multiblaster and shoots him.

"Your armor maybe durable, but it still has a weakness."

Clayton grabs out 2 silent flash bangs and toss them towards Scaglietti. As the grenades explode with light, Clayton covers Vivio to protect her from the disorienting effects.

Scaglietti was temporarily blinded the flash and Fate took this opportunity to hit him once more with her large blade, sending Scaglietti flying through the wall.

Although exhausted, Fate head towards Clayton and Vivio. "Very clever using these flash bangs Clayton. I never thought how useful mass weaponry can be in the TSAB until you and the Plumbers showed up."

"Thanks, but is Nanoha okay?" Clayton turns to Nanoha.

"I am fine Clayton. Thanks for protecting Vivio." Nanoha gets up despite her injuries.

Michael saw that the suit was undamaged by the attack and attempts to alert everyone. "Its not over yet Clayton. The suit is still undamaged, which means Scaglietti can still fight."

Jen went in front of them and took out her gun aiming at the approaching Scaglietti. "Clayton, take Vivio somewhere safe. I will try to hold him off."

"Jen wait. You are no match for him alone so I will help." Nanoha went to Jen's side and aims Raising Heart at Scaglietti as Clayton takes Vivio to hide with Michael.

As soon as Scaglietti was insight, Jen shoots him non-stop with her blaster, but that didn't even faze him.

"DIVINE BUSTER!" Nanoha yells as her attack pushes Scaglietti back.

Fate uses this opportunity to attack from behind, but Scaglietti releases more of the Relic's magic in his suit in a form of an explosion easily incapacitating Nanoha, Fate, and Jen.

Vivio wakes up and saw that everyone, but Clayton and Michael, were knocked down. She then becomes even more terrified when she sees Scaglietti moves towards her, but Clayton stood in front and took out his blaster.

Scaglietti remains silent, but raises his arm to gather more energy to his hand. Just when Scaglietti was about to fire at them, he was suddenly pushed through the weapons crate by a beam of natural light.

Clayton immediately recognized this attack.

"You have down a great job Clayton, now leave the rest to us." Through the door came Ben (in the form of Chromastone), Gwen, and Kevin.

Scaglietti then gets up and took a look at the team. "What is this? More insects too squish?"

"This ends now Scaglietti." Kevin puts his hand towards the wall and absorbs the metal into his body while Ben transforms back into a human.

With new hope in Clayton's mind he stood alongside them after hiding Vivio as they prepare for battle.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 10**

Within a couple of hours after Leanna's betrayal, Leanna arrives at the hideout to reveal the outcome to the unarmored Jail Scaglietti.

"Scaglietti, some of the members of both the Plumbers and the TSAB have already found out about the plan. The Plumber code breakers are working faster than we predicted."

Scaglietti turns towards Leanna. "Did you take any action to delay them Leanna?"

"I did sir. I manage to kill and injured a couple of their best teammates. They won't be able to make their move for at least a couple of days, especially with the war still going on."

"Good Leanna. The plan is almost complete, once it's done, Mid-Childa will soon be ours for the taking." Scaglietti laughs maniacally.

"Yeah, I don't think so." Leanna suddenly pulls up her pistol and shoots Scaglietti in the back, knocking him down.

Scaglietti looks up at Leanna pointing her gun at him. "Leanna, you betrayed me?"

"You see, it is not just this planet I want. What I also want is revenge on the Plumbers for humiliating just for doing my job, but in order to do that I needed a strong army. When I saw increased activity of the TSAB on Earth, I tracked them down in order to get close to them so I can use their technology, but when I heard of the JS Incident I decided that you would make a good puppet so no one would notice until now. The war wasn't my idea until you told me what it can do to both sides and the amount of followers you have for your plan looked promising so I thank you for that, but you are no longer of use for me anymore."

Leanna points her gun again on Scaglietti. "Any last her words before you die?"

Scaglietti sadistically gave out a smile. "So you used me just so you can exact your revenge? Good job Leanna, you are becoming more like me every second. However, I don't take betrayals to lightly."

One of Scaglietti's followers suddenly came out from the side and hit leanna with two shots; one on her gun, forcing her to release it, and one on her arm where she was holding the gun, causing her arm to bleed excessively.

As she holds her wounded arm, Scaglietti easily stood up, revealing that he was wearing body armor the whole time. The black armored suit he was wearing earlier starts moving from behind him as if it was liquid eventually covering up his body.

"You see Leanna, just having the power isn't enough. I wanted this power to become a part of me so I had my body fused with it."

Scaglietti points to the now distraught Leanna. "You have been very useful for my plan Leanna, but nothing is going to stop me, not even you. Leanna, I am relieving you of your command."

A bean shoots out of his armored finger, instantly killing Leanna as her body now lies in a pool of her own blood.

One of Scaglietti's followers rushes to the body. "Should I throw out her body sir?"

"No. Her body still has power. Put her body in a containment unit for the transfer so I can absorb it."

Vivio, traumatized by what she witnessed, begins to cry in fear as Scaglietti walks towards her.

"It is time for my own revenge." Scaglietti had the Relic implanted and activated a machine that Vivio is trapped in. This created an electrical surge causing great distress and pain to the little girl as she started to lose control of the Relic.

"AAAAAAAHHHHHHHH! STOOOOPPP IIIITT!" Vivio continues to scream in great pain as the Relic becomes more active.

Once all her power to control the Relic is absorbed inside the jewel itself, Scaglietti removes the jewel without damaging her body, but leaving her unconscious, and forcefully puts it into his armor's centerpiece. After the Relic is implanted. Scaglietti then releases a little of the power of his suit as a test, which resulted in the ground almost completely shattered.

Scaglietti then turns to his followers. "As I understand from Leanna's last file, some of the top TSAB officers are heading to the Plumber base near Coastal Airport 8. I want you guys to kill them if you can to keep this war going."

"No problem sir." His followers then head to another part of the hideout to gather a small army and prepare for the attack.

A couple of days later back in Coastal Airport 8, Signum and Michael are still being tended by Jen to after receiving injuries from Leanna's assault to delay them, which also killed Erio and Hayate.

John and Clayton frantically search in the Plumber and TSAB databases to find out who Leanna is with Nanoha and Yuuno watching while Fate comforts Caro, who is still traumatized over Erio's death.

As Clayton manages to unlock the Plumbers' secret files, he found an article that reveals a picture of Leanna, but under a different name, Kyoko Harada.

Clayton calls everyone to come to his area. "Hey everyone, I found something on Leanna. She used to be known as Kyoko Harada, a former inventor of Plumber weaponry. She was kicked out of the Plumbers in an incident that happened several years ago against the Forever Knights when Kyoko, or should I say Leanna, was exposed of stealing Plumber technology for personal use. She did not take the news well and left Earth soon after to a non-Plumber administrated planet, which probably lead her to here."

Fate took a closer look at the article. "In retaliation she pretended to be part of the TSAB in order to access our technology to get revenge on the Plumbers by starting this war. Knowing she cannot do this alone she went to Jail Scaglietti in hopes that he would agree with her plan as it involves getting revenge on the TSAB as well."

Yuuno then intervenes. "It is no surprise that Scaglietti still has followers and supporters. After Scaglietti was arrested, there were reports of protests and riots people that support his ideology. Leanna used them to help free him and the Numbers that are still on his side. There were also reports of an incident involving a turmoil which she was supposed to take control of, but instead ended at the cost of 20 lives and hundreds missing 6 years ago."

Clayton suddenly turns to Yuuno. "Wait a minute, that incident was what killed my parents and forced me to move out of Mid-Childa. When I was standing alone watching as part of Cranagan burning down, I saw a young girl with blond hair holding a gun and as she shoots, I saw a smile on her face making herself look like she was enjoying this. I despised the TSAB since then and left in order to avoid them."

"Understandable captain." Yuuno continued. "Leanna must have used this incident in order to weakened the TSAB's reputation."

"Leanna then waited all this time for the next step of her plan. I read reports that some TSAB workers were missing along with most of the ships they were working on under Leanna's command. This is what they must have used to attack the Plumber base and started this war." Nanoha interrupted.

"The war was used not only as a distraction, but also to weaken us in order for him and his followers to succeed in taking control of both the Plumbers and the TSAB." Signum appears out of nowhere behind them.

Now knowing the truth, Clayton closes his files. "This war cannot end with Scaglietti and Leanna still at large. I am calling the general to end this."

The holographic projection shows up on Claytons screen showing a middle-aged man in a battle uniform.

"Ah! Captain Calaway, I assume you have everything in control right?"

"Sir, the war was a mistake. It was all a part of a plan of some insane madman named Jail Scaglietti to weaken us. We have to call a ceasefire now to end this hostility."

"No can do Clayton. They were the ones who made the first move and they shall pay for it."

"But general, continuing this battle will only cause more deaths. These soldiers our dying for the wrong reasons. We have to stop this now!"

"Silence! Over 4,000 lives were lost in that attack and you are saying we should appease them by ending the war?

"Sir, what about the soldiers that are still fighting? Aren't their lives just as important as those who died in the attack?"

"Enough Clayton! All you are doing is letting your emotions get in the way of what is truly important. I am sorry, but I am relieving you of your command. You are not suited to lead them. Goodbye Clayton." The general hangs up.

Nanoha and Fate attempts to comfort the now-slightly depressed Clayton.

Michael gets up from his bed. "Don't worry Clayton. We will stay with you always until Scaglietti is defeated.

"You are still our captain Clayton. You give the orders and we do the rest." John draws his gun.

Nanoha grabs Clayton's shoulder. "There is no one here that we would listen to other than you so cheer up okay?"

Clayton looks up and sees everyone smiling at him. "Thank you, everyone."

Suddenly loud gunshots are heard outside the base. Through the radio a voice can be heard alerting everyone of the emergency. "Unknown hostiles in our perimeter! We need back up!"

The group looked outside and saw approximately 200-300 of Scaglietti's followers fighting the guards in an attempt to kill them.

Clayton closes the tent's curtain. "Head for the ship! Scaglietti already made his move! We have to stop him now!"

Everyone rushed back in the ship, including the still injured Michael and Signum, to head to Scaglietti's base.

Clayton stopped John. "Private, I am going to have you help Chris in battle, Scaglietti is ours to deal with."

"Yes sir." Although John was reluctant, he broke himself from the group to move to a different ship.

In the ship, Clayton and what is left of his time armed themselves as Nanoha and the rest do the same.

Jen turns to Fate. "Since you fought Scaglietti before, you are going to have to lead us to his hideout."

"I will." Fate replied.

"Does everyone know the plan is?" Clayton asked.

"I do." Michael responded with high enthusiasm.

"The girls fight Scaglietti while we do the rescuing of the girl."

Clayton suddenly gets a call from Chris. "Clayton, I heard that you were relieved of your command from interfering with the war. Care to explain?"

"I will explain later, right now we tracked down a large group of unknown hostiles heading in your direction as well as the TSAB. They are apparently targeting both of you. Stop fighting the TSAB and have your troops ready to fight these new hostiles."

"Will do sir." Chris hangs up the phone and saw thousands of Scaglietti's followers heading to them with some of them destroying Plumber ships and the rest shooting at the TSAB and Plumber infantry.

"Everyone, forget about the TSAB for now! We have thousands of unknown hostiles heading our way intending to eliminate both sides and I want everyone to prepare for battle and that includes the TSAB!"

"Yes sir." Seeing that the threat is on their way, both the Earth military forces and the Plumbers shifted their attention to Scaglietti's followers much to the shock of the TSAB until they saw the army themselves heading towards both them and the Plumbers.

The TSAB responded to this threat by taking positions alongside the Plumbers, working with each other for the first time much to the frustration of the general, who intended to kick the TSAB out of power.

Rein suddenly came out and stood side by side with Chris.

"Looks like we'll have to put our differences aside for now huh?" Rein smiles slightly.

"I am hoping that would both of us working together, the war will end soon." Chris responded.

"Agreed." Both Rein and Chris continue to stare on Scaglietti's followers as they prepare for battle.

Once they arrived at the hideout, they found the entrance to be completely empty. As they moved further into the hideout, they soon find bodies of Leanna and several of the Numbers, Uno, Sette, and Quattro, in several containers connected by small tubes.

"What is this?" Fate becomes terrified of what she has witnessed.

Signum and Caro took a look at Leanna's body. "Scaglietti must have betrayed Leanna for his own gain."

Signum becomes mad knowing that she can no longer take revenge on her as promised.

Clayton continues to advance. "Shhh. I hear something further in the hideout. Follow me and stay quiet."

When they reached further into the hideout, they went inside a large storage filled with the battle suits of Scaglietti's followers and weapons. The group soon spots Vivio, heavily injured, lying on the ground.

Nanoha immediately rushes to her. "Vivio wake up, Mama is here."

Vivio then opens her eyes, but instead of being happy, she becomes frightened. "No. Get away."

"What?" Nanoha becomes confused as well as everyone else.

Vivio continues to speak. "Get away, get away, GET AWAY FROM ME!"

"So my soldiers failed to eliminate you, but no matter I will kill you myself."

Scaglietti then appears suddenly on top tossing Vivio away and standing in front of the small group. "Well if it isn't nice to see some of you once more."

Everyone is in shock of Scaglietti's appearance in the black suit he currently wears.

"Scaglietti, what is all of this?" Nanoha asked.

"I am sure Vivio knows." Scaglietti turns to Vivio

"Everyone, Scaglietti killed Leanna and the rest of the Numbers to absorb their power into his suit. He implanted a Relic inside of me to absorb my power and had the Relic implanted in his suit. He used me as a trap to lure you here." Vivio then falls unconscious again.

"You monster!" Signum and Caro, disgusted by what they just heard, charged at Scaglietti, but partially due to Signum's injury, Scaglietti was able to easily incapacitates them and put them out of action before they reach him.

Fate attempts to use her speed to outmaneuver Scaglietti, but he easily saw through that and slams her head hard to the ground.

"All of the power he absorbed into the suit has made him stronger. He has got to have a weakness. Michael, have that suit examined."

"Yes Clayton." Michael head towards the boxes near the weapons crate.

"Oh no you don't!" Scaglietti rushes towards him but Nanoha cuts him off.

"Excelion Buster!" Nanoha's attack knocked back Scaglietti, but much to her surprise the attack had no effect on him.

"Is that all you got?" Scaglietti fires an energy blast from his right hand towards Nanoha. Nanoha attempts to defend herself, but the attack breaks through her barrier and knocks her back to the wall.

Fate, having recovered from the attack, uses Jet Zamber, but Scaglietti easily shattered her blade and in response, Fate uses Sonic Drive. She then charges at the patient Scaglietti with her now repaired sword in a similar style to how she defeated Scaglietti the last time, but again her attack was intercepted and she was knocked directly at a pile of metal boxes crashing through them.

Nanoha gets up and sees Scaglietti charging towards her. Nanoha then points Raising Heart at him and attacks him with Axel Shooter, but again the attack had no effect on him.

Scaglietti then punches Nanoha in the abdomen with enough impact that blood came out of her mouth.

As they continue to fight, Clayton has been sneaking Vivio away from Scaglietti to hide her with Michael, who is still trying to analyze the suit for weaknesses, but Scaglietti caught up to Clayton.

"Leaving so soon? The fun has only just begun."

As Scaglietti approaches Clayton and Vivio, Jen took out her Mark 12 Techadorian Multiblaster and shoots Scaglietti from behind. Although it had more of an effect on Scaglietti, he still remains unharmed.

"Did you know that this armor is made out of metal from my anti-magic drones and other suits of dead Plumbers? Too bad, because you will die next."

Scaglietti charges towards Jen, but Clayton took out his own Multiblaster and shoots him.

"Your armor maybe durable, but it still has a weakness."

Clayton grabs out 2 silent flash bangs and toss them towards Scaglietti. As the grenades explode with light, Clayton covers Vivio to protect her from the disorienting effects.

Scaglietti was temporarily blinded the flash and Fate took this opportunity to hit him once more with her large blade, sending Scaglietti flying through the wall.

Although exhausted, Fate head towards Clayton and Vivio. "Very clever using these flash bangs Clayton. I never thought how useful mass weaponry can be in the TSAB until you and the Plumbers showed up."

"Thanks, but is Nanoha okay?" Clayton turns to Nanoha.

"I am fine Clayton. Thanks for protecting Vivio." Nanoha gets up despite her injuries.

Michael saw that the suit was undamaged by the attack and attempts to alert everyone. "Its not over yet Clayton. The suit is still undamaged, which means Scaglietti can still fight."

Jen went in front of them and took out her gun aiming at the approaching Scaglietti. "Clayton, take Vivio somewhere safe. I will try to hold him off."

"Jen wait. You are no match for him alone so I will help." Nanoha went to Jen's side and aims Raising Heart at Scaglietti as Clayton takes Vivio to hide with Michael.

As soon as Scaglietti was insight, Jen shoots him non-stop with her blaster, but that didn't even faze him.

"DIVINE BUSTER!" Nanoha yells as her attack pushes Scaglietti back.

Fate uses this opportunity to attack from behind, but Scaglietti releases more of the Relic's magic in his suit in a form of an explosion easily incapacitating Nanoha, Fate, and Jen.

Vivio wakes up and saw that everyone, but Clayton and Michael, were knocked down. She then becomes even more terrified when she sees Scaglietti moves towards her, but Clayton stood in front and took out his blaster.

Scaglietti remains silent, but raises his arm to gather more energy to his hand. Just when Scaglietti was about to fire at them, he was suddenly pushed through the weapons crate by a beam of natural light.

Clayton immediately recognized this attack.

"You have down a great job Clayton, now leave the rest to us." Through the door came Ben (in the form of Chromastone), Gwen, and Kevin.

Scaglietti then gets up and took a look at the team. "What is this? More insects too squish?"

"This ends now Scaglietti." Kevin puts his hand towards the wall and absorbs the metal into his body while Ben transforms back into a human.

With new hope in Clayton's mind he stood alongside them after hiding Vivio as they prepare for battle.


	12. Epilogue

**Epilogue**

It's been about 8 months since the end of what is now known as the Great Interstellar War. Plumbers are still being sent to TSAB-administrated worlds to help with the post-war relief efforts.

Under Clayton's suggestion, a park was made in Death Valley, California on the attack site of the base, which started this war, with a memorial built within it listing all the names of the deceased or missing from both sides caused by this tragedy.

The memorial shows that the TSAB have actually suffered more casualties than the Plumbers and was considered to be one of the deadliest conflicts in TSAB history, although the Plumbers have already been through conflicts like this in the past, which probably gave them the experience during the war.

About 2 months after the last of the Plumbers left Mid-Childa, the Plumbers have decided to form an alliance with the TSAB and had established an Earth-based TSAB agency under the Plumber name as part of the TSAB expansion on Earth and to prevent government interference with the alliance. As a result, numerous TSAB staff or students who were forced to move out to join the TSAB decided to come back to Earth to work at this new agency that was originally suppose to be built near the destroyed base, but had to be moved further north due to environmental and agricultural issues.

Clayton, now promoted to major by his Plumber superiors, stands in front of the memorial along with many former TSAB and Plumber soldiers, including Ben, Gwen, Kevin, Michael, Jen, John, and Chris, in order to pay their respects with Clayton putting down a bouquet of flowers in front of the monument.

All of the surviving members of Riot Force 6 were present in the memorial. As Nanoha, Fate, Signum, and Caro are looking at the names, they found out that Hayate and Erio's names weren't listed, which confuses Clayton as well.

"Something is not right here, Rena and Toby's names aren't listed on the wall also." As the group tries to figure out an explanation, a Plumber ship soon lands by next to them and out came Erio, Hayate, Rena, and Jen.

"Happy to see us alive everybody?" Hayate smiled happily.

Everyone besides Clayton, who is still confused, becomes tearful to see their friends alive and well and rushed to hug them.

Clayton, still cautious, took a step back from them in order to figure out what isgoing on until Hayate's attention turns to him.

"You are probably wondering how we are alive right?"

"Yes, because we saw Leanna killed you with our own eyes. I am wondering how you guys could be alive and well."

"I don't know either. It felt like I was unconscious for a minute, then I found myself awake in the hospital. The same thing happened to the rest of them. The doctors who treated us called our awakening a miracle, but the injuries remained and we weren't allowed to get out until recently, which is why none of you have heard from us until now."

"I guess there are some questions that aren't meant to be answered. I am just glad that you all are alive. Go have fun Hayate." Clayton smiled.

"I will expect you to follow." Hayate rushes back to the still celebrating group.

Just as Clayton was about to join them, Paradox suddenly appears behind the monument. "You can thank me later."

"Paradox? You were responsible for returning our friends back to us? Why?"

"Sometimes good deeds don't come without a reward Clayton and your sacrifice for your friends only proves that. However, just because the war is over doesn't mean that there is no more danger happening to your world or theirs. I expect great things from you Clayton so keep it up no matter what danger lies ahead."

Clayton smiles as Paradox vanishes. "Thank you Paradox."

He then finally joins the rest of the group in the celebration of their friends' return.

He was later awarded the Medal of Honor for his efforts in the war, although everyone else in the group involved with stopping Scaglietti were also rewarded for their involvement.

A few moments later as promised, Fate was finally introduced to Alicia, which resulted in a tearful embrace, but refuses to move with her as she wants to stay near Clayton, whom she still sees as her older brother for taking care of her, but now also sees Fate as her older sister.

As Fate and Nanoha's house were destroyed during the war, they, along with Hayate and Signum, decided to move back to their original households on Earth until Cranagan is rebuilt and continued their work in the Earth-based agency. Because Clayton is a friend to both families, they often make contact with him through emails and video chatting. Clayton often comes to visit them whenever he makes trips to Japan either for vacation or business purposes.

Vivio got even more attached to him as she still sees Clayton as her father since he was the one rescued her from Scaglietti rather than Nanoha and Fate. She even shows both families a picture that she drew of her with Nanoha, Fate, and Clayton living happily together, much to Nanoha and Fate's embarrassment as it also implies that they have strong affections towards him by both families.

With Clayton's grudge over Mid-Childa finally subsided, he plans to visit there one day although he still refuses to move back as he feels that the good things that happened in his life were all from Earth.

In the end, Clayton stands up on a hill with Alicia right beside him, looking at the sunset wondering what the future holds for him.

All right, finally the ending of the story is reached. It wasn't as good as it turned out to be so I could understand some of the criticism that was given to me, but nonetheless I enjoyed making this story and will continue to make more in the future.


End file.
